#i did all of this in one day! 234 from scratch and i did a background!

[neiooss]

i get out of the flashback and go into a new one.....

[honeypirate]

Made of Sunlight

Tokoyami

Tokoyami

Tokoyami x Fem!Reader with Similar Quirk!

quirk is she has a quirk partner that is almost identical to her but she is made out of the light of the sun, her quirk is almost like the opposite of Dark Shadow. The idea for this quirk I got from this post

Tokoyami x Y/N

Dark Shadow X OC Kira (quirk partner)

Warning: only lightly edited

“Kira I know. I see them. You know you’re not supposed make so much noise” your quirk and partner huffs before blending into the light around you. Your eyes follow the boy with the beautiful feathers and his shadow partner as he finds his seat in the class, you stand by the door, waiting for the teacher to crawl out of his sleeping bag before you enter the room. 

“Who’s that?” Dark Shadow whispered into his ear when you finally walked inside, “she must be new. There’s something about her. I like her” Tokoyami watches as you talk to Mr. Aizawa, your kind eyes and smile making his heart race. He senses something, something is different about you, he has to know. 

“There is an open seat next to Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, don't make too much noise. I’ll give you the first day tests after your classes, meet me at the training field outside at 3” you nod and then look over at the boy you had eyed before, the one Kira had made a fuss over. You felt her stir, fluttering about and making your back tingle. You willed her to calm down and keep her emotions in check. 

“Hi” Dark Shadow whispered as he popped his head over next to you, making you chuckle, and Kira swoon against you. You tried to keep your expression calm but you were really annoyed she couldn't relax just because she thought the shadow was cute. “Hi” you respond, Kira echoing it in your head ‘hi hi hi hi hi’ you lean around Dark shadow and make eye contact with the boy “Hi” you say to him and he clears his throat “Hi, I’m Tokoyami, welcome to our class” “I’m Y/N. It’s a pleasure to meet you Tokoyami.” you reach out your hand and when he takes it you both feel electricity run down your spines  “I hope I can sit next to you this whole time.” you add and his eyes widen for a second before Aizawa starts the class. 

“This is Y/n L/n. she will be joining our class from today on. She just moved here from America and against my judgement she has been placed with us in the middle of the year. Everyone be nice to her.” and with that he launched into his lesson. 

At the end of class  you found yourself surrounded by new faces, you learned their names and immediately connected to them all. “Are you moving into the 1A dorms?” a nice girl named Mina asks and you nod “my stuff should be getting moved over now. I’m on the fifth floor, room three” the nice frog girl with the green hair, Asui, smiles “that’s next to my room, Yaoyorozu is also on that floor” you grin “perfect! I hope we can be good friends!”

Tokoyami watches you as you talk to the girls, the other guys around him talking about how cute you were and speculating what your quirk was. He couldn't help the way his heart would race every time you would look around the room until your eyes fell on him, he wasn’t always glad he had a bird head but he was in that moment, because you couldn't make him blush on the outside, you only affect his heart. 

“So your quirk is similar to Tokoyami’s except your’s is with the light and not the shadow.” you nod as you use your quirk to blend the light around Kira, making her visible to everyone now and not just you. She flicks her hair and it glitters with fractured light “yet she makes me hide away” she says dramatically with a huff, hoping she could get some sympathy from the teacher but she was dreadfully mistaken. “We’re going to run through these tests and if you fail you’re out of my class” you gulp, but nod once, getting into the right mindset as Kira sighs, rolling her eyes, before nodding and squaring her shoulders. 

“You passed, barely. You’re free to go. I’ll have make-up tests for you from what we covered at the beginning of the semester, they won't be due until the end of the semester but you will have to do them” you nod once and then he turns and walks away, rubbing his eyes. 

“I dont keep you hidden on purpose. It just takes a lot out of me to hold your form” you say through pants as Kira fades back into the light, blending into invisibility. “I know. I know. I’m you so i know everything. I just like to give you a hard time” she pats your head and you chuckle before walking out towards the new dorms. 

“So that’s why she was different” He says from his spot at the window “she is beautiful” Dark Shadow adds beside him “the light hurts you if you don't remember” Dark Shadow sighs, sounding like a lovesick creature “it doesn't hurt me per say, it just makes me weak, which she already does” he drones and Tokoyami rolls his eyes. “Don’t act like i don't know how the human girl makes you feel, i know your thoughts” Tokoyami just ignores Dark Shadow as he gathers his things up from his studies, maybe he’d offer to show you around the dorms or something, either way, he’d talk to you somehow. Probably. If he could get the guts up for it. 

After getting back to the dorms, Mina and Asui take your hands and show you around, giving you the grand tour. When they get to your room you find a collage of decorations that spelled out your name on your door “aww that’s so cute guys!” you say and Mina squeals, “just wait!” she says and then she opens the door. 

Inside is all the other girls and a few of the guys, one you think is called Deku and the other was the boy with many arms, he must have moved the furniture around. He looked sheepish and sweet. You look at all of their smiling faces before you realize that your boxes were unpacked and your bed was made. You gasp and look around the room with wonder, they had even decorated. “Guys” you whisper and blink away tears “this is so nice. This means so much to me you have no idea” your eyes land back on the group of kids and Mina steps forward “we’re glad you like it, we thought you might be mad but we wanted to do something to welcome you. We left your clothes packed though” you laugh “okay. Thank you. Really. I wasn’t looking forward to unpacking. And you decorated!” Yaoyorozu steps forward “I hope you dont mind, but we added a few things from our rooms as well” she points out the wall behind you and you turn, gasping again and going over to it, a collage of different things from them, little pieces of their personalities, pictures and posters form their rooms and a few from the others here.

One poster in the middle catches your eye “this is AMAZING! Is this the rare all might poster from the-” Deku cuts you off and steps forward “yes!  From issue 234 of the” you finish the sentance with him “heroes of the world magazine!” you laugh with him “thank you! They dont sell that magaizine in america, i only read about it online.” he scratches the back of his neck “it’s no problem, i have two” you gasp “You have TWO OF THEM?” Mina laughs “he has more than that you should see his room” she gasps and grabs Ochakos hand “we should show her our rooms too!” “wait!” you shout and they look at you, you grin “did you guys find my star stickers?”

Every room you saw you rated, extremely generously because it was fun, and gave their door a colored star sticker. 

Mina- “12/10 and a gold star. I LOVE the pink! 3 red stars for that because I don’t have pink” 

 Ochako- “12/10 and a gold star. I feel really comforatble here. Very Homey. 4 blue stars because blue makes me feel like home for some reason”

Yaoyorozu - “100/10 because omg girl your bed is a dream. Three gold stars for that bed alone” she blushed, she was a little embarrassed about it before but now she feels glad. 

Jirou- “19823429347/10 are you KIDDING ME? You’re so badass Jirou! Maybe if you have some time we can jam out sometime, i’m decent at the guitar. Let me know” you smile and place every color of star on her bedroom door as she blushes in the corner

Hagakure- “I love the cherries! And the stars! This is so cute! 11/10!” she claps when you place gold stars on her door

You go through the boys rooms, fangrling over Deku’s and placing red, blue, silver, and gold stars on his door. 

When you get to the last room on the list, Tokoyami, they all make excuses and try to bypass it, saying it was too dark and scary to see again, but on your way back to your room you shake your head, what could be so bad? Kira whispered to you and you nodded, sneaking back and knocking on his door. 

“Hi” you say when he opens it a crack. “I was wondering, could I see your room? Everyone else showed me theirs and i was curious what made yours so creepy” he looked you over once, before Dark Shadow pulls the door open the rest of the way “come on in! Hey where's your friend?” you furrow your bows as you’re herded in the room by dark shadow “he means your quirk partner” Tokoyami says as he faces away from you, embarrassed that everyone thinks his room is scary.

“Im right here!” Kira says but she doesnt show up, the darkness drowning out any powers she may have had alone. You chuckle and concentrate the last of your energy, pulling light from the open doorway and his purple lamps to build her form better, “it’s not that i hide her, her form is just made out of the light, so it’s harder to keep her visible. Tokoyami, Dark Shadow, this is Kira.” as Dark Shadow and Kira talk about their lives being attached to someone, you look around Tokoyami’s room as he just stands awkwardly. 

“Your room is SO cool” you say softly as you gawk at his decorations, you’d keep your room like this if it wasn't so hard on Kira “look at this!” you exclaim as you hold up his skull decoration with glowing red eyes and he chuckles in shock, you were so cute, so bright and bubbly, literally made out of sunlight, and you liked his room? He was so intrigued by you. “This is the skull of Yorick, the king's jester” you say in a dramatic voice and then giggle as you set down the skull and look at his other things. His heart was beating out of his chest, how were you so perfect? And WHY WASN'T HE SAYING ANYTHING?! 

You make your way slowly around his room, your hand running along the edge of a cape that was on the back of his desk chair, you point to a poster in the middle of his collage, a band that you listen to often “is that from their last tour? Did you go?” He pops out of his head band takes a step towards you “no I couldn’t go, unfortunately. They’re my favorite band” you beam at him and he feels his heart pop out more butterflies that flood his veins “they my favorite too! We should go to a concert sometime together, if you’d like” yes. You have killed the resident bird boy. “I/ I - uh - I - *Tokoyami brain go:@•#[*“ Dark Shadow and Kira move closer to you guys “he's trying to say he would really like that” Dark Shadow says, patting Tokoyami on his back as Kira giggles. Tokoyami brushes Dark Shadow away 

You feel a little dizzy and Kira flickers for a moment before fading “sorry I’m just at my limit. Mr Aizawa goes hard” you laugh and Kira sighs dramatically. “Are you okay? The dark probably doesn’t help. Maybe you should go” Tokoyami forgot about his nerves and shyness, just for a moment, now worried for you.

You laugh “the darkness makes it harder for Kira but I’m okay with it. But I should go I don’t want to impose” when you get to his door Kira says goodbye to Dark Shadow, and he hands her a small piece of paper and you turn to Tokoyami, who’s watching the exchange a little confused “it’s for our collage in our room, Mina and the others gave us some things to make it feel like home, posters and pictures. Thank you for showing me your room,” you place your hand on his arm gently “no matter what anyone says it’s a freaking amazing room, not scary at all” you smile warmly and he feels his tongue get thick in his mouth, his palms start to sweat, “th-thank you” he nods and then panic flashes through his eyes “wait!” He says before you turn and he walks back into his room, grabbing the poster you commented on and handing it to you “for-“ he clears his throat “for your collage” you beam up at him, excitement on your face and on your voice “really? You don’t have to! It’s your favorite! I couldn’t-“ he chuckles, and a surge of confidence finds him, finally, as he says boldly, albeit a bit shaky from his nerves  “I insist. I’ll get another when we go to a show together” a soft sound of elated shock escapes your throat, one that he really liked hearing, as you gaze up at him “thank you, Tokoyami” 

After his door closes you place a gold sticker on it before walking away “What did he give you?” You ask Kira “this drawing!” She shows you a small piece of paper with a quick pen drawing Dark Shadow made of him and Kira. It was adorable honestly. You chuckled softly as she sighed like she was love sick.The next day you find the picture hung up by your mirror, on its own special place Kira chose. 

The next few weeks flew by, you spent all your free time studying and having Yaomomo tutor you so you could turn in all your make up work in the first month, hoping to make your way on Aizawa’s good side, which by the nod he gave you you’re pretty sure it worked. To celebrate Mina suggests a movie night at the dorms and everyone, even Bakugou who you haven’t even spoken to once, agreed, which honestly shocked you. 

You put on a pair of cotton shorts and a big sweatshirt before grabbing a soft blanket and heading downstairs, the smell of popcorn hitting you before the elevator doors opened. “Hey y/n! Do you like scary movies?!” Mina asks as you enter the kitchen area. “Yeah I do! Are we going to watch one?” Half of the kitchen sighs and Mina laughs “it was a tie that you just decided!” You laugh “sorry guys” you scratch the back of your neck before Mina grabs your hand, dragging you to the couches and pulling you down next to her. 

“So do you like anyone yet? It’s been a month, do you have any eyes on any of the boys?!” She asks excitedly and you chuckle as a few other girls come over “Don’t get me started!” Kira exclaims, making the girls laugh as you structure her form “Dark Shadow is just dreamy” she swoons as Dark Shadow waves at her from across the room.

“And how about you y/n? Do you like Tokoyami  maybeeee?” Hagakure’s singsong voice makes you laugh “yeah, he’s really kind, and very interesting. But my plan is just to wait and see if anyone likes me, before i make up my mind” “ARE WE GOING TO START THIS OR WHAT?” Bakugou shouts as he walks into the room, making everyone chuckle and Mina pop to her feet “OKay guys buckle up! It’s a scary one tonight!” Mina gets it set up and then takes her place on the floor on her stomach, the place to your right staying empty. 

“Dark Shadow wants to sit next to Kira” Tokoyami says while avoiding your eye contact shyly and you smile “of course!” you pat the seat and he sits beside you stiffly, nervously “but Kira is too bright for the movie so if you want i can make her like a shadow in the dark, the opposite of light.” Kira is one step ahead of you as she pulls a little power from you to phase herself as someone puts out the lights “now SHUT IT” Bakugou shouts again as the movie begins, ominous music filling the room. 

“No no no” you whispered under your breath as the guy in the movie ran straight down the same path the murderer was on, you put your hands in front of your face, looking through your fingers as the music gets even more intense. The moment you see the knife moving your body is turning of its own volition, into the shoulder of the boy on your right, a scared gasp leaving your mouth. 

“Are you okay?” he asks quietly and you nod into him “is it over?” you whisper back, and he nods “yeah” you chuckle and move your head up to meet his eye “sorry, Tokoyami” you go back to watching the movie but the action is repeated every time someone dies, soon your hand finds his under your blanket that had got tossed over you both and Hagakure to your left. He’d squeeze it every time the scene ended to let you know it was over, you felt your heart race every time. 

When the movie ended you stayed there, holding his hand under your blanket as your friends crawled around the couch to discuss the craziness of that movie,  “i did not expect that the killer was actually the aunt of the boy’s friend he lived with in college, total TWIST”Mina talking absolute nonsense as you chuckled, Hagakure leaning against you “but that fireman was so handsome, i need to look that actor up online.” 

Tokoyami was talking to Todoroki on the other side of the couch, where he was sitting on a table chair, Tokoyami explaining the strange twist that Todoroki didn’t understand, absentmindedly squeezinng you hand every once in a while as he spoke. Your thumb brushes against his and he remembers that he’s holding your hand. My god, he’s holding your hand. How did he get so lucky. 

Kira had a form again, comforting Dark Shadow about him being scared when the house was on fire. your heart felt warm, you felt truly at home in this small, second family, you had made at school, you were truly lucky to be having these experiences. 

[bo-died]

Day 234

This morning I woke up to scratching on the bunker door. I tried to wait for it to leave but it never did. It was almost halfway through the day and it was still there. And I knew I had to go out to look for more food soon, so I peeked through the plastic shield between me and the window to see one of those creatures trying to get into the bunker. Its boney hands slowly scraped along the door as it began giving up getting inside after many hours of trying. I closed the plastic covering on the window and walked back to the corner where my bed is figuring it would leave soon. I accidentally fell asleep for I don't know how long while waiting for it to leave. I woke up realizing I fell back asleep and jumped up to see if the creature was still there. I peeked through the window to see the creature curled up asleep right in front of the bunker door. Getting food is not too urgent yet i thought. Knowing the creatures never stay in one place for too long, so I could go looking for food tomorrow. I walked to the small pantry on the opposite side of the bunker, opening the creaky pantry door and grabbing a small can of corn I found not too long ago in an abandoned camp. I cooked it over my small fire and slowly ate it trying not to think about the desolate and emptiness I feel being here alone for so long. All I can hope for is a better day tomorrow.

Day 236

I woke up this morning to a human-like shadow coming in through the window. I walked over to the window and slowly pulled the plastic curtain away from the window revealing the creature staring right at me through the glass. I just looked into its eyes for what felt like a few minutes. It didn't try to stupidly lunge at me through the window like all the other creatures did, it just stared. I want to do more research on this creature that will not leave me alone. I wanted to test my theory that the creature would not attack like all the others do so I slowly and gently cracked the window open the tiniest bit to see its reaction. I could hear its grizzly moans and I could now smell its deadly stench. It tilted its head like I remember dogs doing when they heard a high pitched noise. I felt very stupid doing this but i tried to say hello to it? And it tried to mimic me with a half ok sounding “helo” back.

Day 241

The past few days I have done some research seeing what else I could have the creature mimic. I think today I'm going to try something. I gently opened the window to see the creature smiling today. I tried to explain to it that I am out of food and I need it to go find me some. It just continued groaning and turned around and walked off into the void that is our world. It still has not come back and I doubt it will.

Day 245

Today I woke up to the same scratching I woke up to all those days ago. I went to my window to see my creature there holding an old backpack full of cans and water bottles. I quickly opened the window letting the creature hand me the bag. I closed the window and looked through the bag not being able to believe that this actually worked. I set down the bag by the pantry and ran to crack the window. I softly said thankyou to my creature. The creature then leaned in towards the window and painfully formed the words. “Let.. me in….please”

~this was another short story based off of a prompt by @writing-prompt-s I rlly enjoyed writing it but I don’t know if it’s any good?

[heyitsjay03]

Aeipathy: Chapter Two

Disclaimer: i don’t (unfortunately) own Marvel or any of their characters, plot points, etc. so all right are to them and their our overlord Disney

AN: yeahhhh this one’s a shorty but i promise the next one will be longer and filled with plot and angst and shit so prepare yourselves <3

Bucky x Reader

Word Count: 3.1k

TW: angst, mentions of torture, mentions of murder/arson, HYDRA collectively is a prick

Chapter One is available here!

   Gnawing. 

   It claws through my body on all fours. Tearing, ripping, hacking, burning. 

   Monstrous fangs that sink into the deepest parts of muscle- I can feel it in my bones, the burning. 

  There is no noise, just the sound of whirring and the unholy screeching of demons in my ears. Faceless demons, demons whose faces have too much detail, demons that stare, demons that scream. Demons, demons, demons. 

   I have fallen. Fallen from grace. Fallen from…

   No, no. 

   I am falling. 

   Something catches me. A savior in blue. Scarlet red smeared across their chest. Blood. My blood- the blood of sinners and saints and bystanders. Of children and ancients and of rich and poor. 

   There’s white streaked between the red. Piety. Purity. Righteousness. Desperately, I cling to the stark white stripes. Indecipherable mumbles pass my lips as I stare at the white. I beg for purity, to be clean again.

   Every time I wake up, it’s always the same. 

   The immovable weight in my body. The unceasing shivering. The bite of frost. The writhing of filth in my veins. In my nerves. In every fiber of my being. Festering. Growing. Rotting. Corrupting. Remembering. 

   But why can’t I remember?

   All I can remember are the demons. Faceless, nameless but never silent. Always screaming.

   Screaming, screaming, screaming. 

   I cling to the white. The righteousness of my savior. Solidity in turbulence. Silence in cacophony. Purity. Cleanliness. Life. 

   I cling to life. 

   But life burns under my fingertips. It shrieks and squirms under my touch- tries to escape. Repelled by my presence, it retracts away from my grasp.

   Color retracts into shapes as I take in my surroundings. An almost completely empty room completely made of concrete. A single contraption behind me made of metal. Icy fog slithers out of the open door, hissing and flicking at my ankles. 

   Words, however, remain blurred. The savior holds me upright- pulls me to my feet. Everything burns and aches. I’m so incredibly cold. Frosted water paints my skin, coats my clothes to my body. A puddle gathers beneath the writhing fog. 

   This seems familiar. 

   My eyes turn up towards my savior. The blood-stained guardian. Words fall from their lips, landing on deaf ears. 

   My body trembles as the cold becomes more vicious with its fangs. The savior turns away and says something. Everything is muffled- faraway and distant and like someone has their hands clamped down over my ears. 

   “Why am I awake?” I ask, straightening up. Every inch of me quivers while every part of me wishes to stop. 

   But I was awoken for a purpose. My mission.

   And I’ll complete it. 

   Hail HYDRA.

Location: S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters

Date: 2012

   “Woah, easy, ________,” I mutter, holding her upright. Her eyes wide, they flick around the room. Her hands grip my chest as she shakes violently. 

   She’s here. She’s alive. 

   She… she died. Died on that table- how is this…

   “Steve,” Tony mutters, holding out a blanket. I take it and start to wrap it around her shoulders. 

   As her glazed eyes lock with mine, I look over her face. She’s drained of color- blue and white. Her chapped blue lips open and close violently.

   Hoarsely, she starts to speak. 

   But not anything I can understand. 

   Over and over, she repeats questions with her eyes wide and wary of every moment and movement. My eyes dart over to Tony- who watches ________, his eyebrows furrowed. 

   Russian. 

   That’s what she’s speaking. Russian. And fluently. Extremely well. Why… Why is she…?

   “She didn’t… usually speak like this, did she?” Tony asks, gesturing vaguely to her as she continues to shake in my arms. Broken words off a stolen tongue hiss past her lips. She furrows her eyebrows as she looks between the two of us. 

   “Her files told me she was-” Tony continues. 

   “She’s… she’s never spoken this before,” I mutter, adjusting my grip under her arms. “Raised in Brooklyn for most’a her life- I dunno why-”

   “V chem... moya missiya?” ________ hisses, her voice shaking. I look down and watch her straighten up on unsteady legs. “V chem moya missiya?” 

   “...why is she…?” Tony mutters, stepping in front of her. He lets his head fall back with a sigh as he taps his leg with his finger. “It’s been a long time, let’s see if I can do this.” Rolling his shoulders back and snapping his neck, he focuses back on ________. “Kto ty?”

   ________’s head tilts to the side slightly. Her eyebrows furrow further as she glares at him through them. “...Hetaerae. V chem moya missiya?”

   Tony sighs and closes his eyes as he speaks. “Ch… chto… ty. Chto ty?”

   Her eyes glaze over as she stops shaking, standing upright. “Ya HYDRA.”

   “...she’s… She died, Tony. I don’t… I don’t know what else to tell you,” I mutter, looking up from the desk. “She… she died before I even got the serum. I hadn’t even seen Doctor Erskine- Bucky… he hadn’t been shipped off to Europe yet.”

   “I may be able to help explain that,” Tony says as he gets to his feet. In his hand is a thick folder filled with papers and photos and notes and scraps of paper. He places it in front of me with a thud. “Apologies- I would opt for the digital version but, uh… you… don’t even know what... that… is.”

   “Tony,” I say sharply as I open the folder. He just shrugs and sits down across the table again. The top paper is mostly blacked-out with a few words left untouched. ________’s name. Her age. Her parents and their causes and dates of death. And other words that… don’t make sense. ‘Mistress’. ‘Replication’. ‘Improvement’. ‘Rejected’. ‘Baroness’. ‘Salbei’.

   ‘Hetaerae’. 

   Repeated over and over throughout the sea of black streaks is that word. ‘Hetaerae’. At the very bottom of the page in tiny letters are the words ‘Project Samsara- Hetaerae’. In the corner is a skull with tentacles writhing beneath it. ‘HYDRA’ is written along the curve of the skull. 

   My stomach churns. If HYDRA really is behind this then...

   I start tearing into the folder. Photos of the various angles of the steel container from when I woke up. Under it is a handwritten note. ‘Cryo-container; Vrsn: Hetaerae’. 

   Another photo- this one of a chair. On the armrests and legs are cuffs, along with another one on the back of the chair. Something metal comes around the chair. It juts off the side of a machine and looms over it like an archway. A note is written over the photo. ‘Neck brace may prematurely terminate subject. Issue logged during first programming session’.

   Another blacked-out stack of papers. The same words are repeated over and over again. ‘Hetaerae’, ‘Baroness’, ‘Samsara’, ‘Salbei’, ‘HYDRA’. My fists clench the papers before tossing them to the side. Tony watches in silence. 

   What the Hell is this? What were they doing- what did ________ have to do with it? 

   My eyebrows furrow as I manically flip through the papers. Papers fly to the side as I tear through the folder. I can feel myself getting rigid as I near the end. 

   Nothing. I’ve learned nothing. Not a single goddamn thing. There’s nothing here- 

   My hands stop as my eyes rest on the last few items. A file not blacked out. It’s completely intact. Nothing scratched, no scribbles, no hasty lines cutting through words. I snatch it and start reading. 

Project Samsara; Hetaerae

Subject Name: ________ Bishop

Subject Age: 26

Subject Info:

Daughter of Leon Bishop (deceased) and Catherine Chambers (deceased)

Resident of Brooklyn, NY

Military background

Non-combatant medic

Attempted pilot training

Worked under Doctor Akin Nachtnebel- HYDRA researcher

Personal friend of Captain Steven G. Rogers, Sergeant James B. Barnes, political activist Odessa Lily Mae Ababio

Official status: Deceased

Simplified Process Log (see file 178953 for detailed logs):

Day 1: 

Body retrieved by HYDRA. 

Blood and tissue samples taken. 

Heart/respiration rates taken. 

Note: Hetaerae seems to be semi-lucid. May require sedation. 

Day 13:

Serum incubation complete. 

Visible changes in body structure internal and external. 

Bone density increased slightly, muscle mass increased, other changes to be tested.

Day 23:

Regen. abilities test positive

Enhanced reflexes test positive

Body modifications test optimal

Note: Hetaerae seemed to negatively respond to pain. Possible weakness. Must train to not respond.

Day 68:

First programming session prematurely terminated. Hetaerae reacted negatively to programming.

Admitted to medical wing. 

Near strangulation and bruised trachea. 

Removing neck cuff on programming station and attempting again tomorrow. 

Day 100:

Programming temporarily successful. 

Hetaerae could not recall set of numbers given pre-programming for forty minutes. 

Memory wipe testing will continue.

Day 173:

Hetaerae admitted to medical wing for treatment. 

Major vocal cord damage. 

Damage not irreversible. 

Memory wipe testing will continue.

Note: Hetaerae begged for ‘Steve’ and ‘Bucky’ repeatedly during memory wipe. More research needed.

Day 234:

Three guards admitted to medical wing. 

Hetaerae had clawed at their eyes, noses, ears, and mouths

Broken nails were taken from guards’ faces.

Admitted samples for research.

Extra-long memory wipe testing done. 

Hetaerae will be allowed a day to rest after strenuous session. Cannot allow for subject’s termination.

Day 250:

Near disaster.

Hetaerae attempted escape.

Four guards killed. Two more seriously injured.

Must increase security.

Note: Hetaerae lethal before combat training. A promising candidate. Akin, in his paranoia, chose well.

Day 276:

Hetaerae broke free of restraints during memory wipe.

Too exhausted to attempt escape. 

Memory wipe has prevented Hetaerae from remembering subject name.

Will begin codeword implantation process tomorrow. 

Day 342:  

Hetaerae begins Samsara training tomorrow. 

Complete memory wipe achieved. 

Hetaerae is the only thing within subject.

Day 3658:

Samsara training complete.

Winter Soldier co-training complete.

Complete memory wipe complete.

Codeword implantation complete. 

Hetaerae to be placed in cryo to await orders.

Hail HYDRA. 

HYDRA status: Active. Ready for use.

   “Look at her track record,” Tony mutters, sliding a thick wad of papers over to me. Turning away, I shake my head. “...fine. I’ll read it for you.” He huffs, flipping through the various pages. “Uh… her first mission was to…” he scoffs, “To take out a mid-level politician that had apparently laid his eyes on something he shouldn’t have. ‘Mission: success, target: terminated’.”

   “Tony…” I warn quietly, my shoulders getting tenser with each word. 

   “A few missions later, she’s retrieving lab samples and… and destroying the lab... Fourteen people killed. ‘Mission: success, targets: terminated’.”

   “Tony.”

   “I’m skimmin’ here, Cap, but listen- an orphanage in Saint Petersburg, a… a couple in Prague, a woman in Athens, a man in Cairo...” Tony continues skimming through the pages. “‘Mission: success, target: terminated’, ‘Mission: success, target: terminated’, ‘Mission: success, target: terminated’-”

   “Enough!” I snap, turning to look at him. 

   Tony sighs and puts the papers down. Running a hand down his face, he purses his lips. “Dunno how else t’tell ya this, Cap- she’s dangerous. She has killed hundreds of people. She can speak seven languages, she can infiltrate a political atmosphere and topple it, she can... camouflage in any… social situation, she has a perfect kill record... Whoever she was before-”

   “She’s still in there,” I cut in. “She’s still in there.”

   Tony rolls his eyes. “Are… are you not... hearing what I’m telling you?” He gestures to the original folder. “They laid into her for… ten years. Subjected her to torture. Wiped her slate clean. Whatever was in there, pal, it’s long gone.”

   A huff leaves my lips. “...you don’t know what she was like,” I mumble coldly, reminiscing over what it was like to live with her, to live with her at my side like I was at hers. “She was… the most... hard-headed… stubborn dame I’d ever met. And strong, too.”

   “Rogers-”

   “She’s still in there, Tony,” I snap, my eyes flicking up to him. “She’s strong.”

   “Good morning.” I say, waving at ________ as she sits on the chair. Her breathing is steady, eyes trained on the opposite side of the room. Her wrists are handcuffed to the armests- the same with her ankles. They clink slightly as she breathes. 

   The room is completely empty except for another chair across from hers. My shield lays against the chair- ‘a precaution’ Fury called it. 

   ‘A threat’ is what I would call it. 

   I step further into the room and sit down on the chair. With glazed eyes, she watches me. “Are… those too tight?” I ask, gesturing to the cuffs. 

   She says nothing. Only blinks in response. 

   She… she looks so empty. 

   Her face was always glowing, her smile illuminating the clinic when Buck and I would walk in to bring her lunch or just to bug her. Letters would flood in every now and then from past patients or their families, thanking her for her patience and kindness. She would keep them all in a shoebox under her bed.

   And her hands. She would wrap bandages around my wounds with care. She’d always tell me to not get it in my head to fight again… and then ask where the punks lived so she could ‘pay them a visit’. Her hands were always feather-soft when checking every injury’s progress. 

   Now they look… darker. Not in color but just… darker. 

   Stained.  

   Did she know what she was doing when she killed those people?

   ________ shifts slightly, the sound of the handcuffs pulling me out of my head. I clear my throat and straighten up. “...do you know who I am?” I ask quietly. 

   No response. 

   “Do you know who you are?”

   “Haetarae.” She answers, eyes still glazed. 

   “Do you… do you know who you actually are?”

   ________’s eyes narrow for just a moment. “...HYDRA.”

   “No. No,” I mutter, pointing to my chest. “...do you know who I am?”

   ...nothing. 

   “Steve. I’m Stevie. We… we grew up in Brooklyn together. With Bucky. We, um… Buck ‘nd I, we helped you out of a fight when you were thirteen. That’s how we met… you… remember that…?”

   She blinks, eyes scanning over me. 

   Getting up from my seat, I reach into my pocket and tug a photo of the three of us out of my pocket. It was taken after she had gotten her nursing credentials. We had gone out dancing, just the three of us. We found someone willing to take our photo. A smile crosses my lips as I look down at it. 

   Colors start to fade into the black and white photo. Every detail is so crisp. ________’s chin is resting on my head as she stands behind me- a bright, red-lipped smile on her face. Her arms are wrapped around my chest as she leans over. Her hair is done perfectly- up with roses in her hair. Neat and tidy like she practiced. The skirt of her dress is the same shade of red as her lips. Black dots pattern the fabric of the skirt. The bodice was black- matching her heels. Hooked through her elbows was a creme-colored fur boa. 

   Bucky’s got his arm around her waist and he ducks down to my level. He holds a pressed black suit, wearing a red undershirt. His suit jacket is hung over his shoulder with his undershirt’s sleeves rolled up. I remember him shining his shoes that day while ________ meticulously placed roses in her hair. Bucky had sewn and hemmed my pants with pride. ‘It’s a special day, punk’, he mumbled with the needle between his lips, ‘can’t have ya trippin’ on your pant legs.’ 

   She shifts again and I’m pulled right back into now. ________ sits in front of me. No smile, no roses, no brightness. And Bucky… Bucky’s dead and gone. Lost a long, long time ago. Slowly, I hold out the photo. “...see?” I mumble, “That’s me… before I… had a growth spurt. And that’s Buck.”

   I look up to her. She’s focused on the photo, eyes slightly squinted and head tilted to the side just barely. “...Buck ‘nd you,” I laugh quietly. “He… he was… so crazy about you. He just… never realised it.”

   The door behind us cracks open. Her body snaps tightly, eyes back to glazed. Tony peeks his head into the room and tilts it back. “Eyepatch wants you.”

   I sigh. Looking back at ________, I tuck the photo into her hand. Slowly, her fingers wrap around it delicately. I nod once and start out of the room. As the door swings shut, I spare one last look. ________ looks down at the photo, her head slightly tilting once more.

   “It may be our only option,” Fury sighs. “She’s unpredictable at best.”

   “She’s still in there- if I can just… keep talking with her-”

   “That is out of the question,” he says firmly, eye flicking up to me. “...you’re too close on this one, Rogers. I’m making the executive decision to-”

   Lights start to flash overhead- red and screaming. A wailing buzz rips out of the hallway as the red light bathes us in scarlet. The door slams open, Tony standing in the doorway, panting. Fury slowly gets out of his seat, eye wide. 

   “She… She got out,” Tony mutters, gesturing outside.

   My body launches forward as I run into the hallway. People are running, an anxious chatter swarming around them as they pass just in front of me. As I push into the main hallway, elbows and chests are thrown into me. Flicking to each person, my eyes catch the room where ________ was held. The door is almost completely torn off the hinges- the wood cracked at the handle. 

   I start to push through the sea of people. Like water, they throw themselves against me- eager to leave the building and get the hell out of harm’s way. But as I make my way to the door and push out the other side of the tempest, I can see the dangling cuffs still hanging around the armrests. 

   My fingers graze the splintering wood door, tracing the ridges of where her fingers had dug into the wood- leaving grooves in the shape of her hand. The hinges look relatively new as they hang lifelessly off the wall. The debris littering the floor is kicked around, leaving a partial trail down the hallway. I follow with a solid grip on my shield. 

   “________?” I hiss, looking around the empty hallway. Everything is dimmed by the red lights and the screaming of the alarms haven’t stopped. “________!” 

   I round a corner and every adrenaline-fueled tension melts away. At the very end of the hallway is a floor-to-ceiling window. Broken glass lays at the base of a gaping hole. 

   She’s gone. 

[authorialarcanist]

Monster Collector (Tales of Symphonia)

Summary: When Lloyd and Colette drag the party off to complete the Monster Book, Raine can't help but wonder about what her students are thinking.

Written for Colloyd Week 2021 Day 2: Sidequest.

Gen, crack.

—

“Lloyd, watch out!”

“Right!” Lloyd leapt out of the way of a hammer blow from a massive bear, forewarned just in time by Colette’s shout. “It’ll take more than that to beat me, you know! Hurricane Thrust!” Air burst out from his sword in every direction as he jabbed back at the bear, sending it stumbling away. “Thanks, Colette! It’s open now!”

“Right!” Colette darted forward, multicolored wings carrying her to her target before it could regain its balance, and plowed headfirst into its fuzzy stomach. Nonplussed by the impact, the monster closed its arms to catch the girl in a painful bear hug, only for Colette to raise one of her chakrams in celebration, leaving a deep gash in its face where it had leaned in. “Yay, I got something! Okay, Lloyd, that’s everything I can get from this one!”

Lloyd pumped his fist, and shouted “You two can finish it off now!”

Raine Sage, half-elf teacher and current world-saving tagalong, raised an eyebrow at her compatriot. Zelos shrugged back.

“I don’t get it any more than you do, but I guess we’re doing this! Get ready!”

“I suppose it’s just as well… Now!” Raine raised her staff above her, and light gathered around Tethe’Alla’s Chosen.

“Plasma Blade!” With a shout, Zelos charged at the bear sword-first. Raine’s magic propelled him easily into and past his target, causing it to collapse to the ground in pain. To add insult to injury, a bolt of lightning struck its prone form a moment later, bringing the battle to an end.

“Annnd… there we go! Colette, what did you get from it?” By the time Raine looked back at her students, Lloyd had already pulled out a red book and a pen, and was examining some sort of herb Colette was holding out to him. “Alright! That’s one more down!”

“That’s great, Lloyd!” Genis, Raine’s younger brother, ran up to Lloyd from where he’d been waiting in the back line. “Only… Does that mean you’re going to tell us what we’re actually doing here, now?”

“Hm?” Lloyd looked up from putting the finishing touches on the book. “What do you mean?”

“I mean here, Lloyd!” Genis splayed his arms wide, and gestured at the mountainous terrain around the group. “You dragged us to this random patch of mountain, and never told us why!”

“Oh! Right! Whoops, I forgot about that!” Lloyd scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “Well… Colette, why don’t you tell them?”

“Uh-huh!” Colette stepped forward with a wide smile. “See, when we were in Izoold the other day, I heard a rumor that there’ve been sightings of a reeeaaaally big doggy up in these mountains! Apparently it’s been scaring goatherds and stuff! And there’s only one more entry we haven’t filled up in the Monster List, so I thought maybe it was the one we’re missing!” Lloyd nodded along beside her, and held up the empty page in demonstration.

Raine gave her two students a flat look. “…Lloyd. Is that really why we’re here?”

“Yeah! I mean, it’s really close to done, so we wanted to fill in that last slot!”

Raine sighed. “I’m loath to say this, since you’re apparently invested in your schoolwork for once, but… is this really the time? Aren’t there more important things we should be doing right now?”

“Eh. Kratos can wait!” Lloyd waved his left hand dismissively. “I mean, he’s like a thousand years old or something, right? A couple days should be like a minute to him! We can go and break Origin’s Seal once we’ve finished up with this!”

Suddenly, everybody jumped at a loud crashing sound. They turned to the source, to see Presea standing over a felled tree. The trunk was now bridging a gap that led to the path further up the mountain. “…Getting the Eternal Sword, and reuniting the worlds. Is less urgent than filling an empty page…?”

“I mean, yeah!” Lloyd nodded without a trace of irony. “Who knows what this place’ll look like once we’ve reunited the worlds, right?”

“Uh-huh!” Colette quickly backed him up. “And anyways, once we go to meet Kratos, we’ll have to deal with—mmmph!” Lloyd quickly covered her mouth. The two shared a meaningful look before he let go. “…Um, whoops! Ignore that, hehe!”

“Alright, what are you two hiding from us? Annnd… yoink!” Taking advantage of the brief distraction, Zelos leaned over and snatched the Monster List out of Lloyd’s free hand.

“Wh- hey! Give that back!” Lloyd dove at Zelos, trying to grapple for the purloined book, but his face met the ground instead as the Chosen leapt out of the way.

“Let’s see, here… No. 234, Meredy… No. 235, Abyssion, man that guy was an asshole… No. 236, Z—“ Zelos cut off with a choking sound, all the blood draining from his face.

“Hmm? What is it, Zelos?” Raine walked to Zelos, intending to check the list herself.

“…Hey, Lloyd? Hunny? Bud?”

Lloyd gulped. “Y…yeah?”

“Why do Ihave an entry in the Monster List?”

“Ehe…heh…”

Raine leaned over Zelos’ shoulder. Sure enough, there it was: a little, surprisingly well-drawn, sketch of Zelos facing the reader with orange wings spread behind him. Located at the Final Seal… Strong against lightning and light elements… Drops… “Zelos, were you hiding a Mystic Symbol from us?”

“What? No!” Zelos dropped the book in a panic. “I haven’t got anything like that, promise!”

“Hrm. Nevertheless, this is certainly odd. Lloyd…” Raine wheeled on her student, the righteous fury of a scorned teacher at her fingertips ready to be called. “Have you been writing fake entries to fill space…?”

“Wait! Hold on, Professor!” Colette stepped in front of Raine, shielding Lloyd from her wrath. “Lloyd hasn’t been cheating, I promise! It’s just… a reeeally long story, okay?”

Raine held Colette’s gaze for several long moments, but the girl didn’t seem to just be covering for Lloyd. Raine sighed. “Fine. But we’d better get an explanation once this is over, alright?”

“Ehehe…” Colette wilted and gave a sheepish smile. “A-anyways, let’s just keep going. We still need to find that doggy, right Lloyd?”

“R-right!” Lloyd, climbed back to his feet, and grabbed the Monster List from where it lay. “Come on, everybody! I’m pretty sure we’re almost there!”

Raine watched with a pensive expression as he clambered over the felled tree. Her students had changed a lot over the course of their journey, but… she wondered if they’d changed faster than she’d realized.

———

The group was resting at the peak of the mountain. After much searching, they’d at last found their errant beast; now, they were just waiting for Genis to prepare a meal to restore their energy.

Raine watched as Lloyd and Colette dance around, twirling each other by both hands and singing “Hun-dred per-cent! Hun-dred per-cent!”

Regal sat down next to her. “They certainly seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“Yes.” Raine nodded absent-mindedly. “For all that they’ve grown, I suppose they arestill children.”

“Hm.” The two sat and watched in silence for a moment before Regal spoke again. “You’re still thinking about what happened earlier, aren’t you?”

“I am,” Raine replied. “Did you notice? Those two are incredibly in sync when they fight, like they’ve been fighting together for years instead of months. And… Every so often, I’ve noticed them looking at each other and giggling, like there’s some secret that only they are privy to.”

“…” Regal raised his eyebrow. “…Are you certain they’re not just—“

“I thought that at first, too! But now, I’m not so certain. I just… I’m their teacher. It’s my job to notice and step in if they’ve gotten involved in something strange.”

“It’s a good impulse, Raine.” Regal awkwardly shifted his handcuffs so he could pat her on the shoulder. “But… those two have proven themselves time and again, right? That’s why we’re following them.” He met Raine’s eyes, a serious expression on his face. “As adults, it’s our shared responsibility to be there for them, yes. But it’s also our responsibility to recognize when they’re starting to spread their wings and fly without our help. It’s our responsibility to trust them, and give them space, when that time comes. Whatever those two know, I don’t believe they would ever use it for ill.”

“Perhaps you’re right.” Raine watched as the two in question grabbed Sheena and pulled her merrily into their dance. Whatever was going on there, they clearly still cared about all of their friends being happy. Maybe it was time to sit back, and simply have faith in them.

…Lloyd’s face, grinning sheepishly every time he’d gotten wrapped up in some prank or work-avoiding scheme gone awry, flashed in front of her eyes.

Alas. It seemed that the habits of a teacher would not so easily fade. “…And if they areusing the power of the Eternal Sword to transcend time and space in order to turn their homework in on time?”

Regal coughed. “Then that sounds like it would be a disciplinary question for their instructor to deal with. Mirage!”

Raine’s jaw dropped as Regal’s form rapidly vanished into the distance. What happened to their shared responsibility as adults? “Regal Bryant, you get back here this instant!”

[napoleondidthat]

Napoleon’s Coup d’etat; A Hot Mess

The following are excerpts from Napoleon, A Life by Adam Zamoyski. Napoleon’s heroic coup d’etat was in actuality a hot mess with comedy thrown in.

“Bonaparte took over one of the palace’s drawing rooms as his headquarters. Talleyrand had rented a house nearby in which he, Roederer, and others waited, ready to climb into a waiting carriage if things went wrong. Sieyes too had taken the precaution of parking his carriage in a discreet place nearby in case he had to make a quick getaway. It was said that some of the conspirators were carrying large sums in ready money for the same reason. Bonaparte himself seems to have had an attack of nerves shortly after his arrival and flew into a rage with an officer for no reason.

There was good reason to be nervous. As they waited for the chambers to be made ready, the deputies of the two assemblies, most of whom had been excluded from the previous day’s session, strolled about discussing the situation, joined by Parisians who had driven out to see what was going on. In the course of these discussions those hostile to any change grew firmer in their resistance, while supporters of the coup began to have second thoughts. Bonaparte had a total of about 6000 troops at hand, some sitting around their stacked weapons in the courtyard giving evil looks to the deputies, those hated ‘lawyers’ and ‘chatterboxes’, others deployed in the grounds and the surrounding streets.”

(Napoleon, A Life, Adam Zamoyski, pages 234-235)

“It was not until well after one o’clock that the Five Hundred were able to take their seats, in a flapping of scarlet Roman togas and plumed Polish caps. Lucien and his supporters were to persuade their assembly to nominate a commission to investigate the dangers threatening the Republic. But things got off to a bad start. Sensing what was afoot, the Jacobins among them began denouncing the incipient dictatorship, declaring that they would defend the constitution to the death. It was the kind of emotive language that swayed the majority in assemblies of the period, and a vot was carried to have every deputy renew their oath to it. That would take all day.

The Elders had already filed into the Gallery of Apollo in their blue togas, preceded by a band playing the Marseillaise. They were to take notice of the resignation of the three Directors, declare the government thereby dissolved, and appoint three consuls to prepare a new constitution. But the session had hardly opened when some of the deputies began questioning the legality of the previous day’s proceedings. One of the conspirators cleverly observed that the Elders could not debate anything until the Five Hundred had properly constituted themselves--which they had not, as they were still busy renewing their oaths.”

(Napoleon, A Life, Adam Zamoyski,  page 235)

“In the damp room, hardly warmed by a smoking fire, where Bonaparte, his brother Joseph, Sieyes, and the other leaders sat, ‘people looked at each other but did not speak’, according to one of those present. ‘It was if they did not dare to ask and feared to reply.’ People began making excuses and slipping away. Bonaparte tried to hide his nerves by giving unnecessary orders and moving troops about. Every so often Lavalette would come and report on what was going on in the chambers.

Outside, more and more people began to drift in from Paris. Jourdan and Augereau had also turned up, alert to the possibility of exploiting the situation for themselves....Just before four o’clock he (Bonaparte) announced that he wished to speak to the Elders and, followed bu a number of aides, entered their chamber. Their session had by then been suspended, but they gathered to hear what he had to say.

Bonaparte was not a good speaker, often having difficulty in finding the right words. He was flustered and did not have a specific case to put, only a series of slogans which had proved sufficient up until now. ‘Allow me to speak to you with the frankness of a soldier,’ he began. He had, he told them, been minding his own business in Paris when they had called on him to defend the Republic. He had flown to their aid, and now he was being denounced as a Caesar and a Cromwell, a dictator. He urged them to act quickly, as there was no government and liberty was in peril. He was there to carry out their will. ‘Let us save liberty, let us save equality!’ he pleaded. At that point he was interrupted by the shout, ‘And what about the constitution?’. After a stunned silence, Bonaparte pointed out that they themselves and the Directory they had named had violated the constitution on at least three occasions, which was not tactful, and did not lend conviction to his main theme, to which he returned, plaintively assuring them that he was only there to uphold their authority and did not nourish any personal ambitions, and exhorting them to emulate Brutus should he ever betray their trust. His friends tried to restrain him, but many of the member of the assembly had been angered, and not began asking awkward questions. He carried on, growing more and more aggressive in tone and grasping at any words and phrases that came to mind, conjuring up visions of ‘volcanoes’, of ‘silent conspiracies’, and at one point defiantly warning them: ‘Remember that I march accompanied by the god of victory and the god of war!’ He ranted on incoherently until Bourrienne dragged him away by his coat-tails.”

(Napoleon, A Life, Adam Zamoyski, pages 236-237)

“Hardly had he entered the orangery than shouts of ‘Down with the tyrant!’, ‘Down with the dictator!’, and ‘Outlaw!’ greeted him as the assembly rose to its feet in outrage at this military incursion. He was instantly assaulted by a multitude of deputies pressing in on him, shouting, shaking him by his lapels and pushing so hard that he momentarily lost consciousness. He was rescued by Murat, Lefebvre, and others, who kept the enraged deputies back with their fists, and by the grenadiers he had brought with him. The scuffle grew fierce, and a number of the members of the public in the spectators’ gallery fled through the windows. Bonaparte was eventually carried out, pale, struggling for breath, his head lolling to one side, barely conscious, pursued by cries of ‘Outlaw! Outlaw!’, which in the course of the Revolution had come to signify a condemnation to death.”

(Napoleon, A Life, Adam Zamoyski, page 237)

“Bonaparte had returned to his centre of operations. He seemed completely undone, making strange statements and at one point addressing Sieyes as ‘General’. He soon recovered himself, but for the rest of the day his words and actions remained disjointed and not entirely coherent.”

(Napoleon, A Life, Adam Zamoyski, page 238)

“Bonaparte came out of the palace followed by his suite and asked for his horse. The fiery beast lent by Bruix had been frightened by the shouting, with the result that when he mounted it began rearing and bucking. After some less than heroic tussles with it, he rode up to the bewildered grenadiers of the legislative guard, who failed to show much interest.....Riding up and down on his unruly mount he stuck a heroic pose, venting his fury at the way he had been treated by the Five Hundred, telling the troops that he had gone to them offering to save the Republic but had been attacked by these traitors, paid agents of Britain, who had brandished daggers and tried to murder him. His agitation had brought out a severe rash on his face, and while considering his next move he had scratched so hard that he had drawn blood, which now seemed to confirm the story of daggers raised against him--the rumor that he had been wounded flew through the ranks...”

(Napoleon, A Life, Adam Zamoyski, page 238)

[donbabak-blog]

TURBO ERRANDS IS SAVING BUSINESSES EVERYDAY

Being an event planner is so much fun and quite exciting too. Imagine the thrill of having to plan a memorable day in the life of a person, or a ground-breaking event of an organization, from the biggest issues to the nitty-gritty details. Take my word for it, it’s a thrilling job.

Event planners are not just there for the big shot things like which vendor will serve this or that? What venue is to be used? Who is the decorator? Has the stage been set?  We also take care of little issues like has the mother-in-law got her make up done, are the groomsmen not hung over, did all the guests get their invitation? We plan it all. And everything is important.

Now, imagine me, with a guest list of 700 people, who need to get an invitation to this amazing wedding that I have planned from the scratch! And, there is no one, I repeat no one to deliver these invites. I am literarily done for. The bride is a bridezilla, she would kill me if her guests don’t show up and Saliu my messenger in the office picked today of all days to be sick (Not that he could help it, but still…)

I am at a loss barking orders left, right and centre “Joey, that colour ca never work with the groomsmen”  “Susan, don’t be a sluggard, keep moving to get this done” and “Can someone finally tell me how I can deliver these invites?”

Well, Joey suggests “Use Turbo Errands”. What Turbo Errands? They are a dispatch company.  “Dispatch kini?” Please, don’t you remember the one we used the last tine that led me to hire a messenger? “They are very unreliable, I can’t try it, not even with this bride’s invites”. Seriously, it’s just my luck that I am planning a wedding whose destination ought to be a surprise.

“Madam, I think you should give them a try, they are really reliable”, says Joey. “Even if I want to give them a try, do you know how much it would cost?” I retort.  “Ahhhh! Madam, they are not expensive at all oh! Turbo Errands is the most reliable dispatch service in Lagos State, they are also the cheapest. They deliver to anywhere within Lagos on the same day at just 800 naira per delivery. They are the people to call for any delivery or logistics service as they have dispatch riders all over the state. In fact Madam, that’s not all, these Turbo Errands people are technologically savvy, they have a dispatch software app that you can download from Google Paly Store for Android users or the App Store for IOS users, like seriously ma’am, who can beat that?” Joey finishes with a smug grin on his face.

Really, I think I’m beginning to warm to this Turbo Errands, “alright Joey, call them and have them come to the office to pick up the invites”. “Yes ma”, he replies quickly.

My people, at the end of the wedding, I had every reason to thank Turbo Errands. They were timely, affordable and reliable, and Joey got a raise for his timely solution.  

To order a dispatch rider today;

Call/WhatsApp: +234 906 000 6408, +234 906 000 6409 Social Media: @turboerrands Email: info@turboerrands.com Website: www.turboerrands.com

[alinixon813]

Assignment 5: Jewelry and Collectibles

April 9, 2021

Assignment 5: Jewelry and Collectibles

Link to Flickr Albums

(https://www.flickr.com/photos/191887684@N06/albums)

The objective of this assignment was to shoot 30 images of several jewelry objects and collectables while creatively promoting the quality of the object/product and thinking of the final output to be used for an ad to sell the product. The second part of the assignment was to shoot 30 images of collectables, with the final images to be considered for use to sell the collectable via ads or the Internet. Both were to be shot creatively with composition and lighting. 

 After reading the textbook and reviewing several websites, I decided to photograph the jewelry and collectibles in the 3 signature setups that are covered in the textbook: Tiffany Style, Black Ice Style, and Other Backgrounds. The Adorama website was helpful with background ideas. The ones they showed complimented the jewelry without being distracting. I did research on other websites as well but found the book most helpful. Though I did find great inspirational photos for shooting antiques and collectibles. Shutterstock had a lot: https://www.shutterstock.com/search/collectibles

 Summary

I enjoyed this assignment. I think I got a couple of good shots. However, since I was working with so many objects, I did lose track a bit. I was shooting in 3 styles for both the jewelry and collectables, and didn’t realize until looking back, that I took more pictures of certain objects than others. For example, I wanted to take more photographs of the coins. I did try to keep a list going but I was moving back and forth so much with the objects that at some point I stopped without realizing it. I think one problem was that I have a lot of jewelry and instead of just pulling out a handful of them, I was testing them all out. And like the past assignments, I easily get lost in a shoot, and later on realize that I spent too much time on just one object. I love the process of taking pictures and get in the zone where I lose track of time and what else I need to do, like taking notes. This time though, I did take more notes than before, during and after the shoot- just not as much as I would have liked.

If I were to do this assignment again, I would have liked to use some other backgrounds and props. I did try out several different backgrounds and props but didn’t like how a lot of them looked, and they were often distracting.

The biggest problem I ran into was during the “Black Ice” style shoot. It was getting dark out by the time I was doing this style, and so I had to turn some lights on in my house in order to see anything. And because my apartment is very small, it was very hard not to get the light’s reflection on the black Plexiglas. Also, the lights amplified the imperfections of the glass, like scratches, smudges, and dust.  If I were to do it again, I would shoot earlier in the day.

I also would try to figure out a better way of cleaning things. I didn’t realize how much dust and cat hair is on everything until I looked back at my pictures later on. This is true especially on fabric, as my cat’s hair seems to get stuck in everything and it is often hard to see.

Below are some of the photos I took following the research from the textbook and websites.

  Tiffany Style:

Tiffany style is a High-Key approach, with a bright white background and a relatively diffuse light source. The jewelry is placed on a white background, with minimum drop shadow and very delineated details. It is suggested when using a light tent, to put seamless paper/board/fabric/etc. and place light on either side or both. Then place the object on the paper or hang it in a way that it looks like it is floating.

I used my lightbox and put my flash on a tripod. I shot several different pieces of jewelry and collectible objects this way. I tried my close-up filter lens, but it didn’t work as well as I likes- it was hard to focus unless the object was very close to my camera.

  Jewelry

Link to Jewelry Flickr Album

Jewelry – Tiffany Style

For the jewelry, I shot with my flash overhead and to the right, with the top of the lightbox open. I put a softbox on the flash.

Set-up 1: 90

African beaded necklace and bracelet: 48

Cameo watch: 68

Japanese bead bracelet: 94

-I also hung 2 necklaces, so they looked like they were floating

Set-up 2: 31

Vintage flower necklace: 109

Vintage bead and pearl necklace: 156

-I wanted to keep these images clean and simple. I did add a prop to one of the pieces though.

Fish necklace with bowl prop: 134

 Black Ice Style:

The Black Ice style uses a highly reflective background, such as black Plexiglas. The object is placed on the Plexiglas and there is a dark material behind it to black out extraneous sources of reflection. Unfortunately, I was less successful with this approach. I used the black Plexiglas I recently got, but it was getting dark out and I had to put on the lights in my house in order to see anything. Where I was shooting, it was nearly impossible to get no reflections, and every scratch, smudge and piece of dust was visible as hard as I tried to get them off. So I ended up using a black fabric instead, which I realize is not Black Ice. If I get the change, I will reshoot these during the day.

 Jewelry Black:

I was only able to shoot one piece of jewelry on the Plexiglas:

Cameo earrings: 234

 The following were shot in the same way but with black fabric:

Setup: 72

Cameo earrings: 253

Blue bracelet: 260

Plumeria earrings (with props): 416 & 426

Pocket watch: 429

 Other Backgrounds

For other backgrounds, anything can be used from colored seamless paper to textured materials. I tried to keep the backgrounds relatively simple as to not to distract from the objects.

 Jewelry – Other Backgrounds

I used a sequin pillow, blue satin fabric, and marble paper with a black necklace stand

Set-Up: 19

Plumeria earrings in a seashell on a blue sequined pillow: 473

Cameo Set- watch, necklace, earrings: 494 

Blue gem necklace: (for this one I tried using the close-up filter lens again to try for some “macro” shots. After I realized though that the background is just black so wouldn’t fit in the “other” category): 539, 550, 565

Collectibles  

Link to Collectibles Flickr Album

Collectibles – Tiffany Style

Setup: 60

Coins: 173

Gemstones: 178

Seashells: 179

 Collectibles – Black Ice (again, I wasn’t able to shoot much on the black Plexiglas, and instead used black fabric.)

With Plexiglas:

Sand-dollar: 202

Heart and wings pin: 224

With fabric:

Setup: 10

Gemstones: 284, 300

Misfit figurines: 354, 373

Buddhist items: 406

Chakra stones: 433, 443

 Collectables: Other Backgrounds

I used the same as I did for the jewelry

Setup: 69

Chakra stones on blue sequins: 462

Seaglass on blue satin: 479

Buddhist Objects (I realized later that only the white background was visible so it would have been a Tiffany style instead): 518

Pins: 591, 605, 606

[tremder]

A sneak peak at game play

So some of you have asked, and I'll clarify, because until a few weeks ago I didn't know myself if we would be able to do these things. Tremder will have combat

Each wolf born or created will have an element they are born under. This is dictated by the day of the week the wolf is born under. Certain days are stronger for element births than other, but being born on say Friday, will not always guarantee a Wood Element. There's a percentage of a chance that the pups will be born outside their default “Wood” element and pick up an element from another day. We call this the “Wild Card” effect.

Each Wolf will have a combat skill tree related to their element

Wolves are normally peaceful creatures who have to hunt meat to survive. The skills a wolf can unlock by getting skill points through leveling their experience meters up are many. Each wolf comes with 3 skills they MUST unlock before they can unlock their elemental trees. Bite, Scratch, and Charge are default for every wolf on the sim. Then there are 3 trees a wolf can “chase.” Offensive, Neutral, and Defensive. There are 3 skills to each tree. The next one a little more powerful than the one before it. Offensive skills are your attack skills, and are geared for lashing out at your foe. Neutral skills are aimed at healing and regaining attack energies. Defensive are arts you use to defend yourself, reduce damage from oncoming attacks, and make your enemy have status effects that can stun them for a few rounds.

There are many ways to spend your skill stats for your skill tree

And there's no wrong way to do it, but a right way that can unlock some very interesting things we'll leave you all to discover. Call them known easter eggs as it where. It is possible to Min/Max your stats, spend all your skill points into one branch of your tree, and that's fine. However to unlock the easter egg skills, you first need to stat your wolf just right to be able to do so. We are going to leave it up to you all to figure out how.

There is a maximum level to a wolf's level. It's 25

To keep the game fair and balanced, we did the math, crunched the numbers, worked the percentages and tweaked all the things to try and break our calculations. The maximum level to keep the game fun, yet fair is 25. This will give you a certain amount of skill points to work with, and how you assign them will be very important if you want the easter egg skills unlocked.

Aging:

Wolves age 2 weeks per day. Rollover will be midnight pacific time. Your wolves, when they are born, come with description information about their health. There will be Poor, Lacking, Okay, Average, Good, Very Good, Excellent, and Amazing.

Poor - 1-3 years (26 days – 78 days)

Lacking - 1-5 years (26 days – 130 days)

Okay – 2-5 years (52 days – 130 days)

Average - 4-8 years (104 days – 208 days)

Good - 5-9 years (130 days – 234 days)

Very Good - 6-10 years (156 days – 260 days)

Excellent - 8-12 years 6 months (208 days – 326 days)

Amazing - 15 years 6 months (404 days) 

The health that a customs (Legendary Wolves) get is Amazing. Legendary wolves will live a maximum of 15 years 6 months.

Born wolves can live a maximum of 12 years 6 months, but rarely do they live past age 10. The higher the health, the longer the normal wolves live, so therefore, if they have health lower than Okay, they will never live past the age of 8.

Born wolves (Legacy Wolves - the ones that weren't created in the customize tool) can't have Amazing health, but they can have Excellent health. Wolves that are customized automatically come with Amazing health. However, it does not pass down. The highest health that a customs pup’s can get is Excellent. Custom wolves will live a maximum of 15 years 6 months.

Once wolves get to 7 years, their face starts graying. Every 6 months, the gray will increase. The graying will stop increasing at 10 years of age. As they get older, discharge stains will be visible by their eyes as well.

Breeding:

Females can't breed until they are of 3 years old. Males can breed at 2 years old. There will be a breeding "cool down" for one in game year (26 actual days). Since females only come into heat once a year. Females can have anywhere from 1-8 pups in a litter. The more pups, the higher the chance one could die from starvation or neglect because there are so many.

1-3 pups will have a 95% chance of survival

4-6 pups will have a 75% chance of survival

7-8 pups have a  60% chance of survival

For each pup, there is a 5% chance of them catching a fatal disease. There will be a 15% chance (per pup) of a lone wolf/competing predator killing the pup. If you fail to feed your pack for too long while a female has pups, then there's an 85% chance that the entire litter will die.

Inbreeding:

If a litter has been born from inbreeding, there is a 30% chance (per pup) that they will be born blind, deaf, dead, or with very low health. An inbred will never have more than “Okay” health. Double inbreeding (if an inbred is either bred to a family member, or bred to another inbred) has a 70% chance (per pup) of them being a stillborn, not surviving past 6 months, and being born blind and/or deaf. Double inbred wolves are incapable of breeding. Special litter survival items can still be used with them.

Rare wolves/markings:

There is a 10% chance (per pup) that they will be born with an albino, melanistic, vitiligo, or somatic mutation. If you breed a wolf with a mutation, the chances of a mutated cub being born rises by 15%. If you breed two of the same mutations (example: albino x albino), the chance of a mutated cub rises to 20%.

When you get either a melanistic or albino mutation, the mutation covers all other markings. Mutations like somatic or vitiligo can still have other markings show, but the mutation layers will still be above all the other markings.

Normal markings:

Normal markings are the markings you can get in the custom tool. The chance of the marking passing down is a 75% chance (per pup). If both parents have the same marking, the percent of it passing changes to 90%. Marking opacity is randomized between the opacity percentage that the parent or both parents have. For example, the male has Brown Mask at 50% opacity. The female has Brown Mask at 12% opacity. You breed those two together, and now have a 90% chance of Brown Mask passing on (in a randomized marking slot). Lets say Puppy #1 has Brown Mask. Puppy #1’s marking opacity will be between 12% and 50%.

[hudsonespie]

75 Years Ago: The Last Nazi U-Boat Surrenders

Described as a “lanky, hawk-faced man,” Charles Eliot Winslow was born in 1909 and grew up in the Boston area. He preferred using his middle name and, by 1940, he was a successful paint salesman and engaged to be married. Winslow had second thoughts about his fiancé, but instead of calling off the wedding, he chose to join the U.S. Navy. So, in 1941, at the ripe age of 31, he found himself called to active duty with the enlisted rating of seaman 2nd class.

In his first assignment, Winslow served out of Boston on board USS Puffin, a Maine fishing boat converted into a minesweeper. In November 1941, just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he decided to apply for an officer’s commission in the United States Coast Guard Reserve. Winslow passed the competitive examination and, by December, he accepted a commission in the Coast Guard.

Winslow rose through the ranks quickly. During 1942, he served as executive officer on board the Coast Guard weather ship Menemsha, and then received an appointment to the anti-submarine warfare school in Miami, Florida. Following graduation, the Coast Guard promoted him to lieutenant junior grade and assigned him to the Argo, a 165-foot Coast Guard cutter originally built for offshore Prohibition enforcement. By February 1943, Winslow served as senior watch officer and navigation officer on board Argo. He rose rapidly through the ship’s officer ranks and, in April, he received a promotion to executive officer and gunnery officer.

After only two months as the cutter’s executive officer, the Coast Guard promoted him to commanding officer of Argo. In June 1944, the senior member of a Navy inspection team reported, “The [Argo’s] commanding officer is an able and competent officer, forceful, decisive, military in conduct and bearing, maintaining discipline with a firm yet tactful hand . . . .” Even though he enlisted to escape his fiancé, Winslow proved a solid leader and an excellent seaman, and the Service would retain him as Argo’s commanding officer for the rest of the war.

Johann Heinrich Fehler followed a different path than his American counterpart. A blond, clean-cut man, Fehler was born a year later than Winslow. As a boy growing up near Berlin, he longed to go to sea. After completing high school, Fehler signed-on with a German sailing vessel plying the waters of the Baltic Sea and, after two years, he began serving on a German ocean-going freighter. He next entered the German merchant marine academy and earned a mate’s certificate. In 1933, he joined Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist Party, which was recruiting new members throughout Germany. In 1936, he joined the German Navy as an officer cadet and he would remain a faithful Nazi Party member for the rest of his military career.

In the later years of the war, Fehler’s fate would be tied to the German submarine U-234. One of Germany’s oversized Type X-B U-boats, this 1,650-ton sub’s original mission was to lay mines rather than torpedo enemy shipping. However, after completing its trials and commissioning as a minelayer, the U-boat returned to the shipyard for conversion into a freight-carrying U-boat to transport vital cargoes through Allied patrolled waters.

Using the schnorkel mast, shown here next to the conning tower, U-boats could run their diesel engines while submerged by sucking air through an intake at the top of the mast while blowing diesel fumes out of the schnorkel’s exhaust manifold. (U.S. Navy Photo)

Back in the U.S., the Navy assigned Cutter Argo and its sister cutters to patrol and convoy escort duties. The cutter carried a crew of 75 men and supported radar and sonar equipment; an armament of 3-inch and 20 mm guns; and depth charges and other anti-submarine weapons. As escorts, Argo and its sister cutters were typically assigned to coastal convoys, tracking underwater contacts and attacking anything that resembled the sonar signature of a submarine.

In December 1944, the German high command summoned Johann Fehler to Berlin for meetings. There, he learned that his U-boat would serve as an undersea freighter to ship important cargo to Japan. The Nazi’s had sent U-boats to Japan before, but three out of four submarine freighters had been lost attempting the passage. However, toward the end of the war there was no alternative for shipping cargoes to Germany’s last surviving ally. Fehler’s assignment to command a transport U-boat proved deeply disappointing, because he wanted to join the fight and command one of the attack subs. But Fehler stayed with U-234 since requesting another position meant postponing his deployment or, even worse, serving in a shore assignment.

Shipping space was limited in even the largest U-boats. To maximize U-234’s capacity, the Germans allocated every conceivable watertight compartment to critical war material. The 300 tons of cargo included many of Germany’s latest armaments and military technology, such as new radar; anti-tank and armor weapons; and the latest explosives and ammunition. Military aviation materials included documents, technical drawings and instrumentation for Messerschmitt’s latest fighter aircraft. U-234 also carried raw materials rarely found in Japan, such as lead (74 tons), mercury (26 tons), optical glass (7 tons) and uranium oxide ore (1,200 pounds). By 1945, lines of communication between Germany and Japan had become tenuous, so U-234 also carried one ton of mail and correspondence for German military, diplomatic and civilian personnel located in Japan.

This image shows Argo moored at Portsmouth Navy Yard on May 19th, 1945, with U-234 crewmembers assembled on the fantail and Coast Guard officers and men looking on. (U.S. Navy Photo)

Not only did Fehler have to transport vital cargo to Japan, his orders required him to ferry critical military personnel. His twelve passengers included two officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, two civilian employees of the Messerschmitt Aircraft Company, and four German naval officers. U-234 also carried four German air force officers, including flamboyant Luftwaffe general Ulrich Kessler.

Fully loaded with top-secret cargo and passengers, U-234 departed Kiel, Germany, on March 25th on course for Kristiansand, Norway. On April 15th, Fehler deployed from Norway dubious of his mission’s chances of success. He cruised without surfacing for more than two weeks using the U-boat’s advanced schnorkel system and, by early May, he reached the open ocean. In the meantime, the Nazi war machine had collapsed, Adolph Hitler had killed himself and other Nazi leaders had fled Berlin. So the surrender of German military forces fell to Admiral Karl Dönitz, former head of the German submarine fleet.

On May 8th, 1945, Dönitz broadcast the order for all deployed U-boats to surrender to Allied naval forces. By the time he received the order, Fehler was halfway across the Atlantic. He decided to surrender to the Americans and began steaming westward. Meantime, his two Japanese passengers chose to commit suicide to avoid capture and Fehler buried their bodies at sea.

On Saturday, May 19th, Argo rendezvoused with U-234 and its Navy escort, USS Sutton. Sutton’s whaleboat ferried Fehler, his officers and his passengers over to the cutter. According to Commander Alexander Moffat, the senior Navy representative on board Argo, Fehler climbed over the cutter’s rail and cheerfully extended his hand in greeting, but Moffat did not return the German’s proffer of a handshake. Denied a warm greeting by the American, Fehler proceeded belowdecks with his men, remarking, "Come now, commander, let’s not do this the hard way. Who knows but that one of these days you’ll be surrendering to me? In a few years, you will see Germany reborn. In the meantime, I shall have a welcome rest at one of your prisoner of war camps with better food, I am sure, than I have had for months. Then I’ll be repatriated ready to work for a new economic empire."

In his personal collection of photos from surrender of U-234, LTJG Eliot Winslow’s hand-written captions included: “The Finger: May 19, 1945, Kapitanen Leutnaut [sic] Jahann Heinrich Fehler . . . said in good English, ‘Ach—my men have been treated like gang­sters.’ With eyes meeting head on, I barked ‘that’s what you are GET OFF!’ My outstretched arm point­ed to the gangway.” (Courtesy of the Winslow Family)

Below, Argo’s armed guard ordered the prisoners to sit still with their arms folded prompting Fehler to complain bitterly to the American interpreter about their treatment. After learning about Fehler’s behavior, Winslow went below and ordered the guards to “shoot any prisoner who as much as scratches his head without permission.”

After they moored at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, an armed guard escorted U-234’s personnel to the brig. Luftwaffe General Kessler saluted Winslow and politely asked permission to depart the ship, to which Winslow silently pointed the way. Fehler left the cutter protesting to Winslow “Your men treated me like a gangster.” Already simmering over Fehler’s hubris and loud behavior, Winslow pointed to the gangway and barked, “That’s what you are. Get the hell off my ship!” 

Navy officials deemed Fehler, his passengers and officers of significant intelligence value and flew them from Boston to Washington, D.C., for further interrogation and processing.

Meanwhile, the Navy disbanded Winslow’s surrender group. Later, Winslow expressed his interest in returning to civilian life. In a letter to his command, he wrote, “If the Argo . . . is scheduled to fight the wintry blasts alone all winter, my answer is ‘Get me off.’ One winter upside down was enough for me. It took me three weeks [on shore] to regain the full use of my feet!”

To determine the contents of U-234’s cargo, the Navy surrounded the submarine with a shroud to shield the sensitive unloading activities. The Navy Department sent much of U-234’s cargo to its research facility at Indian Head, Maryland, distributing the German technology, including the Messerschmitt plans and instruments, to appropriate government offices for research and analysis. The Navy handed over the uranium oxide to the U.S. Army to support the Manhattan Project and development of atomic weapons.

Ultimately, U-234 was used for target practice by the U.S. Navy. On November 20th, 1947, USS Greenfish shot a torpedo at her as she lay on the surface, approximately 40 miles off Cape Cod. (U.S. Navy Photo)

After U-234’s surrender, the Navy continued to analyze the U-boat’s design and construction. The Navy subjected the U-boat to numerous tests to compare the durability and performance of German submarines to the latest American sub technology. By the spring of 1946, extensive dockside inspections and sea tests were complete and the Navy formally declared the U-boat “out of service.” Finally, on November 20th, 1947, 40 miles off Cape Cod, the Navy used the U-boat as a torpedo target for the American submarine USS Greenfish.

Navy intelligence officials processed Fehler and the other U-234 officers through Fort Hunt, located near Mt. Vernon. After that, the Navy sent the officers to internment camps along the East Coast. Fehler went to a facility reserved for fervent Nazi officers and, in 1946, he returned home by sea along with other repatriated Germans. While Fehler sank no ships as a submarine commander, his association with U-234 made him the subject of journalists, writers and researchers as one of the better-known U-boat captains. After returning to Germany, he settled in Hamburg and passed away in 1993 at the age of 82.

After completing the successful transfer of surrendered U-boats to Portsmouth, Captain Winslow navigated Argo up to Southport, Maine, to anchor in front of his parents’ home on Love Cove. The cutter barely fit through the rocky narrows and is the only vessel of its size and kind to have visited the sparsely populated area. (Courtesy of the Winslow Family)

After retiring from active duty, Eliot Winslow settled in Southport, Maine (near the port city of Bath), where he started a business running tugs and local tour boats. For years, Winslow gave summertime tours of the southern Maine coast on board the sightseeing vessel he named for his old cutter, the Argo. Winslow lived to see his nineties at his home in Southport.

William Thiesen is the Coast Guard Atlantic Area historian. This article appears courtesy of Coast Guard Compass and may be found in its original form here. 

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/75-years-ago-the-last-nazi-u-boat-surrenders via http://www.rssmix.com/

[journey-to-be-wealthy]

The Wealthy Affiliate Review For 2020 - Update

Today, I will be updating the Wealthy Affiliate review for 2020. There have been so many updates in WA. Too many for me to talk about but I will be touching on the key updates that you need to know. Right now it's 102° F. outside and I am sitting in my A/Ced office chair updating you about the updates that have happened or coming in the near future. Because of COVID-19 that most companies are closing and they might not be open for a long time. They will be laying off hundreds if not thousands of good workers. Already there are more than a million people applying for unemployment benefits. We are always hiring and helping you build your online business from scratch. You manage it. Hiring a company to manage for you will cost you up to $1000+ a month. With WA it's only $49 a month. The Old Program In the previous update. We were informed that we will no longer give two free websites for our starter members. Starter members are members that sign up for a trial run for a week, 7 days. You know, those that are afraid to purchase a service thinking it's a scam. I was one. However, I did my own research after research and after taking the free courses just to get a taste of what WA was all about. Long story short I was hooked. 2.5 years later I'm still here. Back to the update. As you will see below are the new program that we will have for now on. As you can see there are no more two free websites. Only one. Uno. Ib. (That's one in Hmong.) Instead of 25 free websites and 25 own ones, you'll be, getting 10 total. You'll still have your free lessons and chat rooms for the first week you joined. That's would be $359 annually. I have an older version if you want more details here. The old version of WA prices. More like an older review for your convenience. ===> Get the Black Friday Pricing, Only $299 For a Year of Premium Until May 11th! Why The Changes W.A has been in business since 2005. There are more than 1.5 million members and counting, needed more staff, overhead cost, payroll to do, and economic changes along with the cost of living. Not to mention technology changes, it's expensive. So, yeah there have to be some changes but incentives for everyone. It's not easy keeping everyone happy. As a business owner, sometimes, we have to put our foot down and keep our business alive. It comes down to compromise between owners and customers. "We change this but we'll add this." No one actually needs 50 websites. Most of us have 3 and that's because the ones that have more than one website are advanced and ones that do have more than one website are already making some kind of passive income. What's The New Membership Program

After May 11th, the new pricing at Wealthy Affiliate will look like this: Premium Yearly = $495 per year (NEW PRICE) Premium Bi- Yearly = $234 per 6 months (REMOVED) Premium Monthly = $49 per month (UNCHANGED) First Month Premium Monthly Offer = $19 First Month (UNCHANGED) As you can see, the monthly pricing and first-month bonuses are not impacted by this. The bi-yearly pricing is no longer available, and the yearly price has a new price structure. The new Premium Yearly is going to be $495 as indicated, but we are going to be introducing some new perks associated with going yearly. The Premium Yearly is going to include: Only if you act now! ===> Get the Black Friday Pricing, Only $299 For a Year of Premium Until May 11th! (1) Free .com Domain (2) 100 Community Credits to use towards SiteComments/SiteFeedback (3) Video Bonus (4) A 2-Month Off Discount ($93 off) As you can see we added a few incentives to the mix to make everyone happy, hopefully. Final Thoughts or Conclusion Now is the time to start looking for a new skill. Technology is in high demand right now. When you have downtime because of the stay at home order or need to find ways to make extra income to supplement what you have right now is the best time to start. We care for you and we are in business to help if you want us to. We are a service to help you create your own online business you manage. If you want it managed by someone other than yourself you can but it will cost you double. So it up to you, what do you want? It's been 15 years, we haven't increased our prices, however, before May 11, 2020, you can still get our lowest prices going premium at $299. Remember after the 11th of May the price will be increased so hurry before it's too late. Get grandfather today. Don't wait. Once you become premium you are safe from price increase from future updates. Not only do we train you to manage your own website we also host it right in WA. For the same price. It's included. Even if you have your website hosted elsewhere we make it simple to move from and to. ===> Get the Black Friday Pricing, Only $299 For a Year of Premium Until May 11th!

Thank you for stopping by and helping me out. I really appreciate you and I know your time is as valuable as mine. If I haven't answered any of your burning questions. Or wrote a satisfying post please don't be shy. Please leave me a comment or have a question I will get to you ASAP!

Disclaimer:  Results may vary. This is an attempt to change your mind that you are worth it and that I believe you can do this even if your family is opposed to your choices. This is not a quick-rich scheme. It takes hard work, determination, imagination, a lot of writing, effort, and a go-getter attitude. Meaning never gives up on a few failures. You'll never learn if you don't fail. Challenge the unknown, do it with TAMC. I have affiliate links. Please click here for the full disclosure. I make a little profit to keep my website up for all readers as you thank you for stopping by.

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[lulumaximal]

The Writer's Struggles...

I've learned a lot over the years I've been writing, and I've come to realize a few things. When it comes to being a writer, it can be a double-edged sword.

On one hand, you relish in the emotional thrill of being able to create ideas, bringing characters into being through words alone and breathing life into their story. You envision glorious adventures that get your blood pumping, terrifying thrills and chills that make your own skin crawl, sweet tender moments that draws out a quiet "aww" and brings a warm smile to your face, heart-wrenching scenes that are so powerful that it brings tears to your own eyes...so many scenes and ideas that fill you with emotion just thinking about them!

On the other hand...you are afraid to put the words to paper. The moment you pick up that pencil or sit at that keyboard...you freeze up. You see the images in your mind clear as day, you hear the words your characters say as loud as a whistle in your ear, and you can smell or even taste that delicious feast tantalizing your characters at a festival! Yet no matter how much you wish to write the words in your heart and mind, the blank page--or even the very few words you manage to write out--seem to mock you. Make you feel as though your ideas are too "cliche" or "stupid," even to the point that you start to wonder and worry that no one will be interested in your ideas in the first place! But you know what?

It's okay. This is something that a lot of writers struggle with, be they original content or fanfics for a favorite series. We all go through the same thing, though admittedly both groups have certain struggles that are unique to their group.

For fanfic writers, it's easier to come up with ideas or even alternate universes for something they like because the rules and characters have already been established--people in the same fandom already know the characters and will no doubt automatically recognize them the moment they're introduced! The problem here, however, lies in the fact that because there is already a set lore (or in some cases like Transformers or World of Warcraft for example, a wide and varying range of lore that goes through changes) and well-known characters, there is a much higher expectation on writers to do a good job portraying those same characters the way they would likely behave in a situation they have never been exposed to before.

For those who dedicate hours upon hours digging up information and researching, it can become almost second nature to them to easily imagine this reaction happening or that being said and having it sound natural! The drawback to this is that we end up second-guessing ourselves to the point we begin to doubt that we're doing that character any justice, and as a result we simply believe we can't write that character and just give up writing anything involving them almost entirely.

For younger, more inexperienced writers that are just starting out and learning the ropes of writing, it's understandable that they'll make mistakes and mischaracterizations on their first story or two and would need some guidance and encouragement to grow and succeed on future stories they write. (And let's be honest here: everyone has that one first story that they cringe at whenever they think about what they've written and want to either burn or rework into something better. Keep it, that's good experience and shows how far you've developed as a writer!)

Unfortunately, because of those same high expectations, many of these young writers end up being criticized rather harshly, scolded and harped on for incorrectly writing a character a certain way or messing up a detail that may have been obscure to them at the time or simply because they forgot. Most times those who claim they're offering "constructive criticism" are the ones who end up never saying anything in their ranting "reviews" on what could actually be improved on, or even what may very well have been good or the writer's strongest piece about the story in the first place! And no, telling someone to "take it down and start over" or even threatening to sue them for getting a character wrong is not the way to motivate someone into writing better.

I kid you not, I once had a rude anonymous person on a fan fiction site threaten to "sue me" for writing a Yu-Gi-oh character out of character in my story...when I was 15 years old...and it was quite literally my very first story. That was 12 years ago, and I have never attempted to write anything for that fandom since that day because of them. In fact, that sort of behavior and reaction is the quickest way to ruin someone's confidence in their abilities and their dreams of being part of something they love and wanted to share in with a community of other fans. Don't be one of those bullies that just bashes creativity: actually HELP someone improve through positive feedback! It's not hard, and you will make a writer's day when you leave words of encouragement or even a detailed review on strong points and/or weak points that could use just a little boost to get back to where it needs to be. In the end, you may just wind up helping someone create a story that will someday become your absolute favorite!

Which brings us to the original story idea writers. This category is actually a bit more of a "free-for-all" so to speak in that nothing is set in stone yet. You can make fish climb trees and it'll make sense to your characters because it's YOUR world, YOUR rules! You get to create all these amazing characters of your own, give them quests or have them set out on a journey of self-discovery, and create the most epic fights and dreaded cliffhangers that will keep you and your readers on the edge of their seats! But this can also become an issue in it's own right:

Characters can end up sounding the same and become flat, uninteresting, and just plain boring. The rules and laws of your world can become so complex they end up contradicting themselves on page 234 simply because you forgot that one teeny tiny rule you set somewhere back on page 10. Creating an entire world from scratch takes time, patience, and lots of research you may end up never using just so that the information will bleed into the story as you write it. Creating your own world is one thing, but putting it to a story you know you want to share with the real world? It can be quite crippling a fear whether we realize it or not, because no one can guarantee that your first book will be accepted the way you imagined it the first time you submit it.

All this leads to one thing that every writer (fanfic or original) faces: the fear of rejection. We all want to share our imagination with the world, and we all want that validation that tells us, "Yes, my voice matters even if this idea has been used before by someone else" and that we can create our own vividly imaginative stories. Even if you tell yourself you're never going to let anyone see it, the need to show your writing and the fear of believing that someone will see all the blood, sweat, and tears you poured into your work and saying "It's lacking/it sucks/I couldn't get past page 3..." it's the most discouraging thought imaginable, and can often cause writers to even stop writing all together.

Yes, there may be times where there are boring chapters that are meant to progress your story. Yes, some chapters will get more feedback than others. Yes, there may be times where you get absolutely no feedback at all on a chapter and you feel you did something wrong.

Here's my advice to you: keep writing. Even if you hate those first few words you write down, just keep going until you get that scene that's been bugging you for the past few days or weeks or even months down on paper. Yes, it may suck once you read it again and you'll hate how it doesn't evoke the same feelings you were imagining just moments before, and you may feel the need to eradicate every trace of its existence. Don't! Think of it as that one building block to your story, still made of soft, malleable wet clay ready to mold and shape the way you envisioned it. With each line, each paragraph, each chapter you write, you're constructing the shape of the bricks needed to lay on the foundation of your plot (see what I did there?).

So keep writing that story you've been dreaming about. Weave your words in a way that lets others see the very world you've built out of nothing but a single thought. Seek out those who will encourage you to do your best, help you improve and keep pushing you until you reach your goal! Just remember the most important thing about that first draft: you have the ability to rewrite it as many times as you like until it flows the way your imagination dreamed it so.

Before I end this, here are two quotes I've found that have made writing easier for me to see as something not to be dreaded, but as something to look forward to:

"Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes." - Jacques Barzun

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I am simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles." - Shannon Hale

[misadventures-phan-can]

Complicated Acronyms

Canis lay on a mountain-like pile of blankets and sheets strewn about the floor in disarray, snoring. A tame growl escaped his lips at every exhale, tongue flicking his nose several times before lolling out from the corner of his maw. His partner, in the meantime, lay comfortably wrapped in a thick quilt, resembling a burrito, on her bed. She was a picture of innocent and restful sleep.

The morning came and went, the duo dreaming it all away, until a call on the high speaker across the ship jolted them awake. What was the message? They couldn’t say, but they were fully conscious by the time it was finished. Phantom groaned, unwrapping herself from her blanket-burrito and stretching out across the bed with a yawn. She lay there a few moments, recollecting her thoughts and gathering the will to get out of bed. “Mutt. You ‘wake bro?”

Canis looked at the high speaker, expression neutral, razor-sharp-teeth-filled jaws going wide- almost to the point of unhinging. He yawned and chuffed in reply before resting his head once more, ready to go back to sleep.

“Imf donwatan-gommfo.” He grumbled, eyes closed.

Phantom sighed looking over at him.

“I’m not even going to pretend to know what you said, but, yo- hey it's time to go.”

He barely replied, one could’ve said he didn't hear a word of it, if only for a flick of his feathered ears.

The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she hopped off the bed at the challenge. She readjusted her pajamas, and crossed her arms. “Come on Mutt. Time to get up. I’m sure we were expected on deck hours ago.” When Canis still did not answer, she took a hold of the biggest blanket in his pile and tugged with all her considerable might.  

Instead of going tumbling to the cold space-grade steel floor, the Mimic kept his feet on the ground and spun around to grab the fabric in his jaws, catching her off-guard and almost making her lose her hold on the blanket. Quite an agile little creature he was. The Mutt held the blanket with his jaws and latched onto it with both his residual- but useful- 3rd set of paws.

Tommy veered quickly and yanked back, the blanket which went taut between them.

So started a game of afternoon tug-o’war.

“Oh you wanna go? You wanna go Mutt?!” She taunted gleefully, pulling at the blanket and dragging it from side to side in a bid to loosen her companion’s grip. The Mimic growled, clamping down harder. She refused to give ground.

The “game” went on for quite a bit. Tommy would drag Canis to one side and he would shake out the fabric so harshly it nearly knocked her down- before launching himself in another direction at full speed. Both refused to release the blanket. Both tried to fend off each other's attempts to destabilize them the best they could, even as their “rope” started to unravel at the seams. The Mimic struggled, claws clicking along the floor and accidentally knocking his bag over, spilling its contents in the process.  Finally the pair both gave one last, vicious tug- the blanket promptly ripped in two, the stuffing inside exploding outward. Canis skidded across the floor along with his backpack, and Phantom hit the bed in a sprawled mess. Blanket guts floated around them, gently falling to the ground

Beads of sweat ran down Tommy’s face, Canis was panting heavily- both were grinning like idiots. They bursted out laughing- for they were truly a ridiculous sight to see.

“Yeah! That's what you get… I always did wonder what was in that bag… snacks…” Tommy muttered between breaths when she calmed down a bit, motioning to the packs of tiny bones, and eggshells, with the more commonplace treats of almonds, peanut butter, and water that had spilled out of Canis’ rucksack.

There was also a military-issue Galactic-Standard ID, and as Canis reached down to pick the small wallet-like identification up, something golden slipped out and flitted to the floor.  

“What's that?” Tommy perked, curiosity glittering in her slate grey eyes.  She hauled herself up and swept the item off the floor before Canis could retrieve it, looking over what she now realized was a ticket- to the Galaxy Express 999.

His ears swivelled towards her, the usual reaction when he focused in on one specific thing or another. The Mimic twisted his vocal cords slightly, too lazy to change appearance.

“Old memories… that’s the train ticket I used when I left Linus.” He motioned lazily with a paw, “I can remember almost everything… but sometimes having something like it helps. Galaxy Express 999, direct Linus to Tobito. I'm almost worried, some days, that I’ll forget.” He chuckled “I keep it with me… even if I don't know what it means exactly. They couldn't just make it simple…” He mutters reading off just some of the confusing letters. He was, of course, referencing the jumble of intergalactic-approved acronyms that the various powers of the universe used on official documents. Canis huffed, poking and sniffing at the ticket. Phantom chuckled.

“I can help with that… I learned most of ‘em by heart- you know, ‘cause I wanted to leave Melder asap.” The girl sat on the floor right next to the Mimic, atop some blankets, simultaneously picking a bit of stuffing out of her hair. “Ok so,” She pointed to the first line. Canis shuffled closer to see, head resting in the crook of her arm. Galaxy Express 999 - ticket #374 - Issued 17.03.3043 Std-G “It’s quite straightforward- train designation, followed by ticket number, and finally the Standard Galactic date it was issued. That’s what Std-G stands for. Standard Galactic… ‘Cause you know, every planet has different time, and dates, and all that stuff.” Canis chuckled. “Really? I hadn’t realized… I thought it meant something else.” Tommy scrunched up her nose in distaste. “You’re so nastyyyyyyy.” Her companion’s head tilted in the confused manner dog’s often displayed. “What?” She waved her hand. “Nevermind. Now this part-”

Joplin Station - Pier 23 - 1:30 Linus-Std Time Passenger: Canis L.L.L Familion Direct recruit - Cadet Class 

“This part’s all pretty uncomplicated. Station and dock, where the train is supposed to be, and local-standard time of departure.”The mutt poked Tommy’s hand. “I know that. It’s just all those…. those…” “Acronyms? Come on Cancan, they’re handy! Beats writing so much all the time.” She turned back to the ticket, eyes narrowing in focus.

“You were a direct recruit? To the SDF?” She had moved along, to the last two lines.

Destination: SDF HQ, Tobito, Green Tea S-S, qd.234, Nautilus Galaxy ETA: 19.03.3043 Std-G

“Oh that one I know! SDF is the Space Defense Force, military power behind the Galaxy Railways, GR, and there’s a mini group within the SDF called the SPG, Space Panzer Grenadiers!” Canis grinned, as much as one could with a canine muzzle. His lips curled resembling a vague, happy snarl.

“I never knew that... or that you were in the SDF at all! You never said anything.” Tommy booped him on the nose, as if in revenge for not telling her. He shrunk back. “It was a little while ago…” He whined, trailing off and letting the conversation drop for a moment or two. Tommy’s eyebrows rose but she didn’t comment, wondering if she had overstepped or… something.

“Anyhow, the whole ‘Destination’ part is confusing. What is a ‘Green Tea S-S’? Or a ‘qd.234’? And what’s an ‘ETA’??” Canis huffed, twisting till he was lying on his back and looking at the ticket upside down.

Phantom distractedly started scratching under his chin. “Well, you see, destinations are stated as such: port, town or city- but that’s optional- planet, solar system- that’s what the ‘S-S’ is, quadrant of the galaxy, and galaxy itself. So, by what’s written here you were heading to the SDF HQ, on the planet Tobito, in the Green Tea Solar-System, in quadrant 234 of the Nautilus Galaxy.” Tommy frowned, going over what she had said and trying to see if she had forgotten anything.

Canis chuckled under his breath, the sound coming out as something similar to a friendly dooking, tapping his paws against the floor. “It's so weird that they named a Galaxy after an octopus…. Hey that means there's a Galaxy named after me!”

“Oh! ‘ETA’. That’s easy. Estimated time of arrival… And dates go by day, month, year by the way. Just so you’ll know.” It took a moment for Tommy to realize what he had said. “You? What do you mean mutt?”

“We be related to Nautilus… ses?? Nautili?? Octopi! We are related to Octopus…. Es….” He trailed off, vouching instead to loll his tongue and look up at Tommy with wide, adorable puppy eyes. Phantom ignored it. What a cold person....

“I had to do a lot of papers growing up…. Education… blahhhhhh!”

Tommy snorted. “Yeah, no duh. You got into the direct recruits for the SDF! Education must’ve been a thing.”

“But I hateeeeeee reading and writing…” After all, mimic or not, animals were not designed to be able to communicate with symbols on a piece of bleached tree pulp.

“Oh stop whining mutt….” She sighed. “We should get ready now. Harlock’s gonna skin us alive enough as it is.”

~~Can Canis and Phantom please come to the deck? They are 5 hours late to the crew meeting, and the crew have been WAITING FOR LUNCH FUCKING-- Mii… what are you doing?- No. Noooo. Stop. Come on stop. No. Nn- DAMNIT.~~ The high speaker cut off with an ear-piercing shriek of microphone feedback.

“See, I told you. Now we’re in deep shit.” Phantom growled. Canis whined and ploppled back into the blankets with a groan.

[preciousmetals0]

Virus Shakeouts and Earnings Breakouts; Boeing Defies Gravity

Virus Shakeouts and Earnings Breakouts; Boeing Defies Gravity:

See No Virus, Hear No Virus, Speak No Virus

Welcome to 2020, where the earnings reactions are made up … and the coronavirus doesn’t matter.

That’s right, folks. The Wuhan coronavirus just passed 6,000 confirmed cases in mainland China — making it bigger and faster than SARS — and no one on Wall Street cares. I think I’ve said this before, but I don’t expect Mr. Market to start caring until this virus spreads independently in other countries … particularly Western countries.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare now. (After all, just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you … right?)

What’s Wall Street’s focus right now?

Corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve.

Corporate earnings, I completely understand. Here’s a brief rundown of the headline highlights:

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) posted blowout results last night with rising iPhone demand.

General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) revealed solid cash flow. Forget silly things like poor earnings and revenue — cash flow is apparently king for GE.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) apparently doesn’t suck as much as everyone thought … or does it? (We’ll have more on Boeing in a bit.)

The confusing part is the focus on the Fed. The Federal Open Market Committee concluded its two-day policy meeting today … and basically, nothing happened. So we have that going for us, which is nice.

There was no movement on interest rates, barely a nod to the Wuhan virus situation and a smattering of talk about balance sheets and “not-quantitative easing.” Very thrilling indeed.

The Takeaway:

According to Banyan Hill expert Ted Bauman, editor of The Bauman Letter (who saw that coming?), the Fed is essentially “monetizing federal debt via the repo market.”

I’ve talked about the repo market and the problems therein before. I’m not going to rehash that topic again … unless I need a nap later.

Here’s a quick rundown of Great Stuff repo market coverage, if you’re into that kinda thing:

Seriously, though, this is an important market topic and can influence your portfolio returns going forward. If you really want the details on this situation, I highly recommend you follow Ted Bauman.

Here’s Ted’s take on the Fed and the repo market: “The Fed’s Printing Money Again — but Not for You.”

(And you thought Great Stuff was the only publication with snark!) When Ted’s research is right on the money, he doesn’t hold back … especially when it comes to Wall Street/the Fed clobbering everyday people. (Hey, that’s us!)

If Ted’s market outlook jibes with you, be sure to check out The Bauman Letter. Click here to see how you can get the investing research that Ted doesn’t share with just everyone.

Dear God, the virus, man! What about the virus!?

I get from your feedback that many of you are rather interested in the Wuhan virus. Since I can’t be there to update you with every little detail, I found a site where you can track things for yourself right here. Have fun watching your own mini version of Outbreak!

I’m heading back to my bunker now to make sure I have enough bourbon to ride this out.

The Good: The Daddy Mac Will Make You

If you’re looking for a true earnings highlight in today’s deluge, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) will make you jump (jump!).

The burger master reported impressive earnings this morning, with same-store sales growth coming in at its strongest pace in 10 years. That’s wiggity, wiggity, wiggity whack. (What, no Kris Kross fans out there? Oh well.)

By the numbers, McDonald’s beat earnings expectations by a penny per share, with revenue topping targets by $50 million. The aforementioned same-store sales rose 5.9%, versus Wall Street’s guess of 5.1%. This particular point in McDonald’s earnings was a major confidence booster, after the company missed sales growth expectations last quarter.

Still, analysts remain cautious on the Golden Arches. About 9% of McDonald’s global locations are in China — virus territory.

The Bad: Boeing Inverts

Want to see a neat trick? Look at Boeing’s earnings report. Then look at Boeing stock.

The company reported a surprise loss of $2.33 per share on revenue of $17.91 billion. Wall Street anticipated a profit of $1.73 per share and revenue of $21.67 billion. Now, I’m doing a little back-of-the-envelope math here, but that’s a 234% miss on earnings and a 17% miss on revenue.

Let’s repeat that, shall we? Boeing missed earnings targets by 234%. Whoosh. Missed them by a country mile.

It gets better. Commercial airplane revenue plummeted 67%. Defense revenue dropped 13%. Global services revenue slipped 5%. Boeing even announced $9.2 billion in charges related to 737 Max customers and $4 billion in “abnormal production costs.”

So, where’s Boeing stock after this crash-and-burn performance? Why, it’s up nearly 3%. It defies gravity! It’s literally flying inverted.

This has to be a sentiment rally. The numbers don’t add up … which has me thinking: If these results weren’t as bad as investors expected, how bad is investor sentiment on Boeing right now?

The Ugly: 4.1 Million Subs … Gone

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) took a rather enlightening trip to the earnings confessional today. Earnings beat expectations by a penny per share, and revenue missed by only $100 million.

The company even added more wireless subscribers than Wall Street anticipated, pulling in 229,000 subs on the quarter, compared to targets of 145,000 subs.

But the focus on AT&T has shifted away from wireless subs in the past year. The company is now positioning itself as a major player in the video-content market. Along those lines, AT&T failed miserably.

The company lost roughly 1.2 million pay-TV subscribers (including 219,000 subs lost at DirecTV Now). In total, AT&T shed a record 4.1 million pay-TV subscribers on the year. That’s more than the total population of Los Angeles, California.

The revenue miss is somewhat forgivable. AT&T is spending tons to get its new streaming service, HBO Max, up and running by May. In the meantime, however, the company will be lucky to have any subs left to send to HBO Max. That means more marketing and promotional costs to get new sign-ups.

But wait, scratch those promotional costs. AT&T also said in its earnings conference call that it’ll no longer pursue promotions for low-profit customers.

Where’s my popcorn? This is going to be fun when HBO Max finally launches in May … without a Game of Thrones style headliner to draw subscribers in.

It’s new feature time here at Great Stuff!

Don’t worry, Comic Corner isn’t completely gone … yet. But, to get a better handle on your takes on the market and investing (and whatever other off-the-wall topics we can think of), we’re kicking off the Great Stuff Poll of the Week today.

This question has been burning in the back of my mind for some time now — especially since so many of you have such strong opinions on companies such as Beyond Meat Inc. (Nasdaq: BYND) and Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA).

So, here goes. Click the button below and get started. Oh, and you know that we’ll discuss the results later:

Great Stuff: David vs. Goliath

Did you answer the poll?

Thank you!

With that out of the way … hey, put down the virus tracker and get back here. I’m trying to learn you something here. It’s time to refresh your investing edge.

(Not that edge! Put the blade down! What is this, ADHD day?)

Sigh … let’s face it: The Fed is always gonna feed the big boys on Wall Street. With a steady stream of easy money, these market goliaths will keep getting bigger and bigger … their stocks hitting consecutive all-time highs. It’s like quantitative easing with extra steps.

But remember that every Goliath has its David. And surprise … that’s you! (Well, in the stock market, that is. Unless your name’s David … then you’re David all the time anyway.)

Even with all their millions and billions, big-money investors are actually held back because of their size.

They can’t buy the next tiny tech darling. They can’t stick through volatility or wait for market trends to rise.

But you can. That’s your edge.

I wasn’t joking around on Monday: There’s truly no way to plague-proof your portfolio other than holding stable, well-run companies. And in the coming weeks, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to do so.

Keep an eye on your inbox — Somebody’s coming, woah! — and I’ll be sure to pass along every chance I see to beat Wall Street’s goliaths at their own game.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out Great Stuff on social media. If you can’t get enough meme-y goodness, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

[goldira01]

See No Virus, Hear No Virus, Speak No Virus

Welcome to 2020, where the earnings reactions are made up … and the coronavirus doesn’t matter.

That’s right, folks. The Wuhan coronavirus just passed 6,000 confirmed cases in mainland China — making it bigger and faster than SARS — and no one on Wall Street cares. I think I’ve said this before, but I don’t expect Mr. Market to start caring until this virus spreads independently in other countries … particularly Western countries.

But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t prepare now. (After all, just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you … right?)

What’s Wall Street’s focus right now?

Corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve.

Corporate earnings, I completely understand. Here’s a brief rundown of the headline highlights:

Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) posted blowout results last night with rising iPhone demand.

General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE) revealed solid cash flow. Forget silly things like poor earnings and revenue — cash flow is apparently king for GE.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) apparently doesn’t suck as much as everyone thought … or does it? (We’ll have more on Boeing in a bit.)

The confusing part is the focus on the Fed. The Federal Open Market Committee concluded its two-day policy meeting today … and basically, nothing happened. So we have that going for us, which is nice.

There was no movement on interest rates, barely a nod to the Wuhan virus situation and a smattering of talk about balance sheets and “not-quantitative easing.” Very thrilling indeed.

The Takeaway:

According to Banyan Hill expert Ted Bauman, editor of The Bauman Letter (who saw that coming?), the Fed is essentially “monetizing federal debt via the repo market.”

I’ve talked about the repo market and the problems therein before. I’m not going to rehash that topic again … unless I need a nap later.

Here’s a quick rundown of Great Stuff repo market coverage, if you’re into that kinda thing:

Seriously, though, this is an important market topic and can influence your portfolio returns going forward. If you really want the details on this situation, I highly recommend you follow Ted Bauman.

Here’s Ted’s take on the Fed and the repo market: “The Fed’s Printing Money Again — but Not for You.”

(And you thought Great Stuff was the only publication with snark!) When Ted’s research is right on the money, he doesn’t hold back … especially when it comes to Wall Street/the Fed clobbering everyday people. (Hey, that’s us!)

If Ted’s market outlook jibes with you, be sure to check out The Bauman Letter. Click here to see how you can get the investing research that Ted doesn’t share with just everyone.

Dear God, the virus, man! What about the virus!?

I get from your feedback that many of you are rather interested in the Wuhan virus. Since I can’t be there to update you with every little detail, I found a site where you can track things for yourself right here. Have fun watching your own mini version of Outbreak!

I’m heading back to my bunker now to make sure I have enough bourbon to ride this out.

The Good: The Daddy Mac Will Make You

If you’re looking for a true earnings highlight in today’s deluge, McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) will make you jump (jump!).

The burger master reported impressive earnings this morning, with same-store sales growth coming in at its strongest pace in 10 years. That’s wiggity, wiggity, wiggity whack. (What, no Kris Kross fans out there? Oh well.)

By the numbers, McDonald’s beat earnings expectations by a penny per share, with revenue topping targets by $50 million. The aforementioned same-store sales rose 5.9%, versus Wall Street’s guess of 5.1%. This particular point in McDonald’s earnings was a major confidence booster, after the company missed sales growth expectations last quarter.

Still, analysts remain cautious on the Golden Arches. About 9% of McDonald’s global locations are in China — virus territory.

The Bad: Boeing Inverts

Want to see a neat trick? Look at Boeing’s earnings report. Then look at Boeing stock.

The company reported a surprise loss of $2.33 per share on revenue of $17.91 billion. Wall Street anticipated a profit of $1.73 per share and revenue of $21.67 billion. Now, I’m doing a little back-of-the-envelope math here, but that’s a 234% miss on earnings and a 17% miss on revenue.

Let’s repeat that, shall we? Boeing missed earnings targets by 234%. Whoosh. Missed them by a country mile.

It gets better. Commercial airplane revenue plummeted 67%. Defense revenue dropped 13%. Global services revenue slipped 5%. Boeing even announced $9.2 billion in charges related to 737 Max customers and $4 billion in “abnormal production costs.”

So, where’s Boeing stock after this crash-and-burn performance? Why, it’s up nearly 3%. It defies gravity! It’s literally flying inverted.

This has to be a sentiment rally. The numbers don’t add up … which has me thinking: If these results weren’t as bad as investors expected, how bad is investor sentiment on Boeing right now?

The Ugly: 4.1 Million Subs … Gone

AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) took a rather enlightening trip to the earnings confessional today. Earnings beat expectations by a penny per share, and revenue missed by only $100 million.

The company even added more wireless subscribers than Wall Street anticipated, pulling in 229,000 subs on the quarter, compared to targets of 145,000 subs.

But the focus on AT&T has shifted away from wireless subs in the past year. The company is now positioning itself as a major player in the video-content market. Along those lines, AT&T failed miserably.

The company lost roughly 1.2 million pay-TV subscribers (including 219,000 subs lost at DirecTV Now). In total, AT&T shed a record 4.1 million pay-TV subscribers on the year. That’s more than the total population of Los Angeles, California.

The revenue miss is somewhat forgivable. AT&T is spending tons to get its new streaming service, HBO Max, up and running by May. In the meantime, however, the company will be lucky to have any subs left to send to HBO Max. That means more marketing and promotional costs to get new sign-ups.

But wait, scratch those promotional costs. AT&T also said in its earnings conference call that it’ll no longer pursue promotions for low-profit customers.

Where’s my popcorn? This is going to be fun when HBO Max finally launches in May … without a Game of Thrones style headliner to draw subscribers in.

It’s new feature time here at Great Stuff!

Don’t worry, Comic Corner isn’t completely gone … yet. But, to get a better handle on your takes on the market and investing (and whatever other off-the-wall topics we can think of), we’re kicking off the Great Stuff Poll of the Week today.

This question has been burning in the back of my mind for some time now — especially since so many of you have such strong opinions on companies such as Beyond Meat Inc. (Nasdaq: BYND) and Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA).

So, here goes. Click the button below and get started. Oh, and you know that we’ll discuss the results later:

Great Stuff: David vs. Goliath

Did you answer the poll?

Thank you!

With that out of the way … hey, put down the virus tracker and get back here. I’m trying to learn you something here. It’s time to refresh your investing edge.

(Not that edge! Put the blade down! What is this, ADHD day?)

Sigh … let’s face it: The Fed is always gonna feed the big boys on Wall Street. With a steady stream of easy money, these market goliaths will keep getting bigger and bigger … their stocks hitting consecutive all-time highs. It’s like quantitative easing with extra steps.

But remember that every Goliath has its David. And surprise … that’s you! (Well, in the stock market, that is. Unless your name’s David … then you’re David all the time anyway.)

Even with all their millions and billions, big-money investors are actually held back because of their size.

They can’t buy the next tiny tech darling. They can’t stick through volatility or wait for market trends to rise.

But you can. That’s your edge.

I wasn’t joking around on Monday: There’s truly no way to plague-proof your portfolio other than holding stable, well-run companies. And in the coming weeks, you’ll have the perfect opportunity to do so.

Keep an eye on your inbox — Somebody’s coming, woah! — and I’ll be sure to pass along every chance I see to beat Wall Street’s goliaths at their own game.

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out Great Stuff on social media. If you can’t get enough meme-y goodness, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

[weannoyingbouquetgalaxy-blog1]

Lincoln’S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

"Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://insureinfo.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

RELATED QUESTIONS: 

Are car insurance rates adjusted by occupation now?

I just got done reading this article on car insurance and occupation at http://www.consumerbadcreditguide.com/carinsurance.html What do you think about this?

Should I get business insurance?

I am an LLC for my small online business (I sell handmade jewelry). Should I also have business insurance? I make under $50k a year.

How much would my car insurance cost? ?

Ok, I'm 14 almost 15, and when I'm 15 I will go get my drivers permit, I live in missouri, and Im pretty sure I will be getting my grandmas car. If I got a low end 7 dollars an hour job at 15, would I be able to afford the insurance on my own? my mom doesn't want me on her policy, but I won't be driving her car anyway with my grandmas car that I'll be getting. How is this gonna work, cause I'm clueless. Please help!!!!""

ABOUT how much is scooter/moped insurance cost?

if it is 150cc? i will be 16 when i get it. any good brands to look for? thanks

Car buying/drive test/insurance question.?

By June 16th, the first day of my job, I will need to not only buy a car, but purchase insurance and schedule/complete/pass my drive test. Now, this could be my young naive mind talking, but I am a very alert driver, maybe a little fast, but VERY alert. When doing behind the wheel, I went on the freeway after only 1 hour and the guy said I'm only the second person he's felt comfortable with doing that. But my question is, in what order should i do this (car, test, insurance) and how much preparation/time does each take. i'm hoping for my parents to stop fighting so my dad can buy a new one and give me his truck, but there are no guarantees. By the way, I am 16, and don't think this is some worthless endeavor by a kid with no money. I have saved for over 3 years (I know have over 10000$ but I have to buy everything, but my parents will pay for half of the insurance costs. THANKS""

SR-22 insurance for a 2002 VW Jetta?

I'm at around $150 a month right now for my 1993 Mitsubishi Galant, which seems a little rediculous to me, I may be switching companies. Any idea how much more it would cost?""

What is the least expensive auto insurance company?

Currently have geico...

Car insurance Q??????????

Im 16 years old and Ill be geting my car In June that I paid $3,000 dlrs for Can I get the car title in my own name or do my parents half to also be on my title and when i get my car insurance will my parents be on that? im paying for every thing with my own money... And I live in the state of WI.""

How much would insurance cost for a 22 year old to be insured with his mother?

My mum has been driving for 24 years . The car I want to be a secondary driver is the Honda Jazz 2004 which is 1.3 Litre. How much is insurance looking to cost around?

TERM LIFE INSURANCE IN NEW YORK?

any companies offer no exam life insurance for residents in nyc? $50,000 or more.""

Affordable health insurance?

if any of you guys know any good and affordable health insurance in NJ. We(my wife and I) really need one that we could afford. Thank You!

I'm 27 years old and I wanna get life insurance ? Any thoughts on which type i should get . ?

simplify your answer please .

My car was rear-ended but I don't have car insurance?

Someone rear ended my car today. My insurance has been expired for a while now but I still called the insurance company and they filed a claim for me. When I mentioned that my insurance had expired, the lady who filed the claim said that the adjuster will call me on Monday and give me the details. Though the accident wasn't my fault, I am worried about not having insurance at the time. Also, nobody was injured in the accident but my back bumper had a very minor scratch. Was what I did wrong? And should I be worried about anything?""

What a good car insurance for a teenager?

Okay I'm 16, almost 17, I'm in drivers ed, I have my own truck. I live in Vermont, I get average grades in school, what is a good car insurance, that also has sorta low rates (I make around $500 a month)""

Could anyone tell me if there are dui/dwi exclusions in states that have no-fault auto insurance?

Could anyone tell me if there are dui/dwi exclusions in states that have no-fault auto insurance?

What is a reliable car with a low insurance group?

I've done a little research and noticed they put cars together in insurance groups - like 2e for example. Is the letter for the level of security - so is 'e' bad, for example and 'a' good? Could someone please explain the process, and as I've just passed (I'm 18) - could you name a suitable car for me - lower insurance bracket if possible?""

Moving to Pennsylvania - how do i get car insurance?

I recently moved to PA from NY. I have Allstate insurance on a rented car using my old address in NY. It expires in a little under a month. What do I do now? How do I go about getting new insurance? DO I have to go through the crazy process of getting PA plates? (I only plan on being here for 2 yrs - then I'm moving back to NY) BTW, my parents still live in NY. I'm not sure if that can help me.""

Car insurance question?

does AAA car insurance have sr22's? If so how much do they raise the premium?

How much will my geico auto insurance rates go up after an accident?

If I've had a couple of accidents in years past, currently pay about 1,200/year for geico. I just had a very minor fender bender in which I sustained no damage but the other car (a BMW) got 2 scratches on the rear. How much can I expect my insurance rates to go up when this is all reported?""

Im looking for affordable/cheap health insurance for my children...?

I have two children.One is 2 the other is 4months.I do not want to go through the system because it will cause a lot of division between me and their father.We are still together.It already causes arguments like the fact that he will be on child support.So we decided to look for affordable insurance online that he can pay once a month.Im having trouble finding one.ANY HELP????

How much would insurance be on a 2007 scion tc in Texas?

Im 19 and about to purchase a 07 tc, but I dont know the average cost of insurance for a tc would be""

""I am 16 years old, and someone hit me from the back, will my insurance go up?""

It was clearly his fault, but will my insurance premium go up since I am a new driver? I live in California.""

Around how much will car insurance be for me?

hi, im going to get an rsx soon, im 19 in california, and i was wondering how much insurance would be around for me? full coverage would be how much? and the cheaper one is how much? ( dont know name )""

Will my moped NO CLAIMS BONUS affect my car insurance?

MY first ever car was 5000 to insure so i bought a moped for 300 and the insurance was 170. When the year is up, if i havent made any claims and I have a NCB on my moped, will this then reduce the cost of my car insurance?""

Difference On Insurance Between A Vectra Turbo Petrol & Leon FR Diesel?

Recently decided I'd like to change my car from a 2006 Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 Turbo Petrol to a 2006 Leon 2.0 TDi FR Diesel.. But it all depends on Insurance.. They both fall into group 12 and the vectra has 175BHP where as the Leon has 170 BHP will the insurance be cheaper or more?

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Pay as you go mobile insurance?

hi i am about to buy the new nokia 5800 for 250 any sugestions for insurance and how much will it cost?

Why do insurance companys ask how much you paid for your car?

When they don't want to pay that amount out ! Although you pay that premium.

""Does my auto insurance cover anyone driving, if they have no insurance themselves? thanks?""

Does my auto insurance cover anyone driving, if they have no insurance themselves? thanks?""

""Why do questions say cheap car insurance and affordable health insurance, not cheap health & affordable car?""

Questions about finding inexpensive car insurance usually refer to it as cheap . Questions about finding inexpensive health insurance usually refer to it as affordable . I do not recall ever seeing a question refer to affordable car insurance, and only rarely to cheap health insurance. Why is this? Why do car insurance questions use the word cheap and health insurance questions use the word affordable , and not the other way around? Is it just tradition, like saying Merry Christmas and Happy New Year , but never saying Happy Christmas and Merry New Year ? Is it because the law has the word affordable in its title, causing that word to be associated with health insurance? Is it because most of the questions are from someone who is trying to manipulate search results by causing searches for cheap car insurance and affordable health insurance to come to this website? Is it because car insurance questions usually come from users under 25 years old and questions about getting health insurance usually come from older users (health insurance questions from users under 25 usually have to do with saying on their parents' insurance and/or using their parents' insurance)?""

Nineteen and no insurance?

so i have a Q im 19 and i have no health insurance i live in chicago IL and i was wondering is their any help that i can receive from like the goverment that will offer my health insurance ??

Price for health insurance?

I found out today that my health insurance each month though my company is going to be $234 a MONTH. It's $468 but the company pays half. I'm not married or have any kids so it woul be just for me. I can't take it because it would cut too much into my paycheck. Is this a ridiculous price or the average?

How can I put my girlfriend (8 1/2 years and still going strong) on my health/dental insurance?

Hi guys, so I have asked my job and it seems the only way I can add her to my health/dental insurance is if 1) we are married or 2) if i provide proof of living with her for a certain amount of years. There has to be some loophole because I really think it is ridiculous that we have been to together since we were 16 and I cant add her or help her in such a way. There is no possible way, in timeline, for us to qualify for such rules. 16-18 years old (in high school and lived with parents), 18-23 years old (Attended separate universities and lived in different cities), 23- 24 1/2 years old, (both living with parents back home, we alternate and stay at each others place, so have no set home or bills in our name, such as direct tv, electricity, internet, you name it. we are blessed with awesome parents) and yes we have though about just getting married, but no way... we are waiting until we are established and can fend for ourselves to make a decision like that, but yes we do want to get married some day, but not over screwing the government or other reasons. Also we live in california if that helps, since i know every state varies, thank s guys!! ^_^""

Auto Insurance discount along with online traffic school course?

I got a traffic ticket, want to remove it. I heard some where that online traffic school course offers auto insurance discount along with traffic ticket dismissal. Can any one suggest me the source where I can get information on this?""

Can I fight this no proof of insurance ticket in the state of california?

I purchased my vehicle on 3/13/09 with insurance. I was stopped on 4/7/09 for no license plates and failure to prove financial responsibility i.e. no proof of insurance. Prior to that, the car dealer initially wouldn't even allow me to drive the car off the lot unless it was insured. Also, I hadn't received the insurance card in the mail from State Farm yet. I asked the officer (before he wrote the ticket) if he could identify my vehicle in his system to see that it is in fact insured, at which point he would not oblige. I obviously received the card a few days later and now have the card verifying insurance from 3/13/09 to the present date. Do I have a case here that can rightfully be reversed?""

I think my short term disability due to giving birth got messed up?

So I want on leave on May 20th due to best rest. I used all my vacation and leftover sick time, and the rest is paid by short term disability, a total of about 9 weeks total. I stayed home 6 weeks after my baby was born since my work doesn't cover any of my pay. I work in a very small private business, just 3 of us. My boss had never handled maternity leave before, and I think he did it wrong. A few weeks after I gave birth he said he got a check from the disability insurance agency, it was made out to his business. So he cashed it and wrote me a check for the total amount from his business account. There was no explanation of how to dole it out, so he just gave me the total amount. Then, just now, 3 weeks later, I got another check mailed to my home from the insurance company?? What happened? I should of only got paid for the 3.5 weeks I believe from short term disability because I was paid for the rest. The insurance company is not open until tomorrow so I cannot call them yet.""

How to fight a speeding ticket to avoid my insurance going up?

i live in Ontario and i received a speeding ticket the other night for going 75 in a 50 zone. however, i was very close to the part of the street where it turned 70 so a defence that i could use is that i was speeding up since i knew the road turned 70 soon. However, im fine with paying the ticket, i just dont want my insurance premium to go up. should i plead not guilty or guilty with a reason?""

About how much would liability insurance be for a lawn care business with 2 workers?

Any idea of what liability insurance would be monthly for a brand new business that mainly mows, weedeats, and blows trimmings/leaves? Only 2 guys working (partners) the yards and one secretary/accountant.""

Does it make sense to use a local car insurance company instead of a big national one?

Does it make sense to use a local car insurance company instead of a big national one?

Where can you get cheap car insurance after serving a drink driving ban?

I think it is so unfair to hype up the premium.

""Does your car ins really drop at 25, and how much?""

How much does it typically drop for a woman? If I pay 82 a month now, how much can I expect it will go down? I have nothing on my drivers record, no accidents or tickets, claims, ...show more""

Think of buying a catagory D car which is an insurance write off?

I have just been to view a 2005 Nissan Micra with 13100 on the clock the car had a crush which damage the tail gate and the bumper both have been replaced to a high standard. The car would be worth 5000 but is selling for 2200. Everything seems good at 1st glance but i am concerned about insurance and weather or not it's a good ideal to take the gamble. The seller showd me the before and after pictures of the car and it seemed to fit wot he was saying. He also has a valied MOT which is a month old I don't plan on selling the car if i buy it. How much damage can a knock do to the front of the vehicle or any of the important parts? Please can someone advise wot the best thing would be to do?

How to get insurance for ice cream truck?

I want to start a ice cream truck business but how do you get insurance for the truck

Best pregnancy insurance in PA?

I live in Philadelphia I currently have no insurance. Looking for best private insurer -any info or feed back would be great I am currently 9weeks pregnant

Insurance cost for the following car: 2007 Pontiac G6 GT?

I am a teenager and I am buying a car and would like to know an estimate on how much this insurance costs before I call them up. Car: 2007 Pontiac G6 GT, Convertible, 3.5 L, 6 Cylinders. Title: Va - Salvage I originally wanted to buy a 2006 mitsubishi eclipse, 2.4, 4 Cylinder. I know the eclipse is a better choice, But auctions for the eclipse will end for quite a while on the website we are purchasing the car. And I need a car now, because it will take us a while to fix up the vehicle (Buying proken, and repairing)""

Whos got the cheapest auto rates on insurance right now?

Whos got the cheapest auto rates on insurance right now?

What car is the lowest cost for insurance for a 18 year old male driver (2 years Driving)?

Just curious what is the least expensive to cover for those of you in the insurance industry

Does the driver NEED INSURANCE OR JUST THE CAR?

I'm 17 I have my license. If I borrow a friends car /test drive a car with insurance & I get pulled over will I get introuble?? Do I also need insurance on my name and on the car or just on me?? Can u explain thanks. I heard you have to have insurance on the driver and car or something like this thanks. I live in Oregon.

Can i still be on mom's Car insurance?

So over a year my mom and I bought a car in her name when I graduated college. The car is registered in her name but I make the payments. Well my parents are divorced and I moved in with my dad due to the fact my ex lives down the street from my moms house and other family issues. I have live with him for almost a whole year, no problem. My billing address is still my moms house and my driver license has her address on it. My mail still goes to her house and it is the residence that I claim. Well now my mom is saying that unless I move back in I can't be on her car insurance. She says they are going to come out to the house and see if I actually live there. My mom hates my dad and hates that I live with him so she's been trying to get me to come live with her. I recently lost all 3 jobs that I was working so she's been really pushing moving in with here lately I just way to know if I can still be on her insurance legally. I can't get on my dads till October because of financial issues. I just turned 20 last week I live in CA I'm still under her health insurance She's changing car insurance which is why the subject has been brought up I'm not sure what company she's going to but we did have Horace Mann Thank you""

Driving without a license and insurance?

So like last year I got pulled over and received a ticket for no insurance and no license in Washington state. It has since gone to collections and is not paid off yet mainly due to the interest rate being crazy, but my question is: does this bar me from going and getting my drivers license or do I have to wait till its paid off? My new job requires me so I need to know asap thanks.""

Limited company insurance?

Ive just set up my own limited company recently and i am the only emploee of this company. I dont have health insurance or insurance against loss of earnings in case anything happens to me. Who is the best company for me to go to with this problem.

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Little to no down payment on car insurance?

Does anyone know any car insurance companies that have little or no down payment, my current policy ends in tomorrow and since I'm still financing my car, they could come take it since I don't have full coverage insurance. thank you""

Omg! car insurance!!!!?

*iam17yrs old. *i have all As in all the classes(2 AP classes and 2 honor classes) *have a house but living in an apartment for yrs and will live there until i graduate high school *open parking lot for now *drive less than a mile a day *play sports *have hobby *female *car =around10thousand to 13 thousand$(not decided) *fuel efficient car *adding to my parents' insurance(all sate..ithink) ABOUT HOW MUCH WILL It COST A MONTH ??? i just want to know before talking to the insurance company

Car Insurance: Driving Parents Car?

I have Insurance With State Farm on my vehicle. Currently it is being repaired and I have no car. I need to drive a car to get to work and school. They have State Farm also, but on a different policy. Both Insurance policies say Uninsured motorist on the card. I live in North Carolina (insurance is required) Could I drive my parents car? If I get pulled over what will happen?""

""Im 19, live in pittsburgh with a liscense and no car insurance?""

i need to rent a car but im only 19 and i have no car insurance, is there anywhere for me to rent a car?""

How much would car insurance cost for a 17 year old female? More info provided?

I will be 17 yrs old when I get my intermediate license, which I will then have for 1 yr before I can get my full license. I'm looking for a general insurance quote for a 17 year old female in Iowa (does this have any bearing on the amt my parents pay). Also, I have about B average, but I'm taking AP classes if that makes a difference. I don't have a job but I will have an unpaid internship this summer (does this make a difference?). Both my mom and dad have one ticket each, but that's about it, they're both very careful drivers. I will also have taken a drivers ed course (reqd in my state). I'm also looking at purchasing either a 1998 BMW 528I or a 1998 BMW 740IL as both are under $5000 w/o taxes but if anyone can give me an estimate as to the total cost of both of these cars (after taxes, gas, insurance, etc) that would be fantastic. If any more info is needed let me know.""

What is best single Premium Insurance Policy?

My father looking Good Return Single Priemium Insurance Policy and father age is 58.Please help me.

How do I get my AARP auto insurance rating report?

How do I get my AARP auto insurance rating report?

Where can I purchase individual health insurance?

It's actually for my mom who is 63 and needs some type of insurance until she is 65 and eligible for medicare. She just retired. Does anyone know good, reasonably priced plans that she can look into? Thank you!""

Do you have to pay insurance for the driver or the car?

my friends keeps telling me her parents wont let her get he license because it is 2,000 dollars a year to have a licence, for like insurance. Don't you only have to pay for a car? like if she was to not own a car and just borrow her parents when needed would she still have to pay insurance? I am so confused haha""

Classic car insurance for non-garaged car?

Anyone know of a company that will cover my cars if they are in a carport instead of a garage? Hagerty says no, anyone have any suggestions? I live in So. Cal so it would cost me half a million dollars to get a home with garage.""

How does insurance on a leased car work?

im getting my license soon and was wondering what the best and cheapest option in terms of buying, leasing or buying used is for me. im 16 so insurance is going to be high. i only need a car for 2 years, after that ill be in college and dont see a point in having a car. so i thought why not just lease a car, but i heard when you lease a car the insurance is high for it. my question is how does a lease work? is the insurance for it high already without me being 16 a factor? do you sign up with a dealership insurance or use your own plan? Thanks for the help""

What will happen if i go without auto insurance for a few days?

i just purchased a new car and only took the insurance cuz i wanted to drive the car off the lot. so i now have found a cheaper & better insurance company. i know i can cancel my policy with in thirty days and get a prorated refund and must show proof of new insurance. so what i am asking if i go without insurance for like a week and then buy new insurance will the rates go up because i went without insur. or will they go up because i just didnt pay the other insurance on time? can i stil cancel and get a refund if i come in a few days later than the due date? help!!

How to tax car without insurance?!?

I bought a car recently on ebay. The gentleman said that he already cancelled his insurance as he stopped using the car in the las 6 months. I wanted to ask him to pay the tax on it but he can't. What should I do because when I buy a new car I contact the insurance company straight away but there's not tax on it so can't take it...Any advice?

Car for teenager. please help?

So I'm really interested in the 2012 Mercedes slk350. Its 499 a month but how much would insurance be? My parent make about 200k a year but will they be able to afford that? I really want this car but i need to know what the average insurance for a teenager is.. thank you so much for your help

How much for a used car to round-trip the U.S.?

I'm planning on travelling to the U.S. for a couple of months and I 'd like to know how much woul I have to pay for a used car with insurance to travel all around. They I'd try to sell it back. Has anybody done this? Please, do not send me to an insurance or car-dealer website, just want to hear from people who have actually done this or something similar. Thanks""

Who sells the cheapest motorcycle insurance?

Who sells the cheapest motorcycle insurance?

Does my husband need car insurance?

When I signed up for car insurance my broker told me that when my husband receives his driver's license he has to be put on the insurance. My husband got his license now, but he never drives. I drive, and have insurance. He rides his bike or the bus when he needs to get around. He tells me there's no need to have insurance for him since he doesn't drive anyway. My question is: by law, do we have to purchase car insurance for my husband even if he doesn't own a car and doesn't drive mine? Or was the broker just saying that for business purposes? I just want to be informed and do the right thing, whatever it may be. Thanks in advance.""

Auto Insurance when buying New Vehicle?

What is procedure on obtaining Auto Insurance when you buy a new vehicle and have no present insurance account setup? Does dealer offer temporary insurance until you can get quotes from a few companies?

Insurance companies trying to get money?

So, my little brother was born early and has delayed learning. He can to everything right. His speaking is a little slow but it's getting there and has come a LONG way by the help of many people that we know personally, and in physical/occupational therapy. Now, the insurance companies are saying that they will not pay even though he is fully qualified. We have many letters from his teachers. How often does this happen? It's not been the first time. :(""

Car insurance questions - with regards to cancelling due to cheaper quote?

I have a couple of questions with regards to my car insurance. First of all, if I do a search on moneysupermarket.com/gocompare.com etc, will it record a search on my credit file? I turn 25 fairly soon, and I have a feeling my insurance should probably reduce accordingly, and want to know if it's worth my while shopping around. My current insurance policy ends in October. Also, if I do decide to shop around, and find a policy cheaper than what I'm currently paying, can I cancel my existing policy before it's due to end? I'm not sure how it works with car insurance - i.e. I know, if you wanted to cancel your phone contract early, you would be liable to pay the price for the whole contract - is it the same with car insurance? or can I just cancel it whenever I like?""

Are you looking for affordable health insurance?

Are you looking for affordable health insurance?

Insurance settlement in Arizona?

I hit rear-ended a guy at about 5MPH back in July. He was in a pickup, I was in my civic. About $800 worth of damage to both vehicles. He complained of no injuries at the scene. I find out he got an attorney and filed a claim against my insurance. My insurance says they are still waiting to get a demand letter. Question: I only have $100,000 in coverage. Is there any chance he could get more than this?""

Is car insurance cheaper for a 2008 Honda Accord then a 2005 Honda Pilot?

I'm considering trading my 2005 Honda pilot for a 2008 Honda Accord do you think my insurance would go up or down?

Insurance deductible?

I have no accidents or tickets... I want to change my insurance company.. can I get that $500 deductible back???

""Hello , I have a car in my wifes name ...but the car insurance is in my name can i get it licensed?

Can i get it licensed in kentucky ...while it is in her name? ..she doesn't drive ..i have the insurance on the car in my name..etc .

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

What insurance companys will insure you at the age of 17?

what insurance companys will insure people at the age of 17

Can i buy my own health insurance?

Can i buy my own health insurance? i'm 17.

""If women get low car insurance rates, because they are rated as a group, shouldn't men have low medical rates?""

Women get low car rates b/c they, as a group, are less likely to have accidents. Feminists quote this fact all the time. Yet women live 8+ yrs. longer than men, and spend the last years of their lives using numerous and costly medical resources. Women use ~50% more medical resources than men. Why, then, aren't women required to pay higher medical premiums? Why aren't feminists marching on Washington demanding that women pay more? Oh, sorry ... I forgot. Feminists say they want equality, but their actions show different.""

If Republicans do not act quickly to stop Democrats will tens of thousands of new cars be sold?

Republican members of Congress are trying to stop the cash for clunkers program . The program has been a great success and thousands of cars were sold already, depleting the supply and stimulating the economy with new tax revenue. Since supply has been brought down by these new sales the big 3 car companies will have to start making more cars putting thousands to work in the process. This in hand stimulates the entire economy. Republicans are trying everything in their power to make sure it does not pass again. Is there something fundamentally wrong with the Republican party? Why would they want to stop this effective program in a time of economic crisis?""

GTP vs Camaro Insurance?

Hey guys, Looking at a 95 Z28 Lt1 Camaro or a 01 Pontiac GTP, Which one would have the cheapest insurance? If you own one what are you paying?""

What is the best car for insurance prices for a male driver under 25 in Ontario?

I am looking to buy a car and I know insurance will be expensive because I am a male driver under 25. I want to know which car would be the cheapest to insure in my situation. I have no tickets and no points. Clean drivers abstract.

What is the average car insurance for an 18 year old male who is just starting to drive?

I just want to know how much car insurance will cost me i know a lot has to do with the cost such as what type of car and such. I want an estimate because no insurance website has a quote for new drivers.

I currently don't have a car what kind of insurance can I get? ?

I would like to buy insurance for when I rent cars, because the car rental insurance is just too high nowadays. What kind of insurance can I start to look for. I called a couple of places for a non-owner policy, but they were saying that I need a car first, to place the insurance on.""

Whos the cheapest u found car insurance thru?

ive checked all state geico progressive state farm aig 21 century liberty mutual and esurance. r there any out there that ive missed? im a student and on a very strict budget so i need the best deal possible. thanks!

Ticket for no license and no insurance?

I'm 17 and I got a ticket for not having a license or permit, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and no insurance in California. How deep will this ticket dig into my pockets? Over $500? Big thanks if you can help me out.""

""Planning on buying a newer car, wondering how much my insurance will go up or if it will at all?""

Right now I have a Ford mustang, and i'm paying about $800 every 6 months, i'm planning on getting a 1006 Grand Prix so since it's not a sports cr but it's newer will my insurance rate stay the same? Will it go up? Or am I lucky and will it go down?""

What is the best life insurance for seniors?

age 53, will retire in 2010 - federal employee""

350z/RSX Owners - Insurance question?

I'm thinking of getting either the 03 RSX or 350z early next year but some people tell me that insurance will be quite high even if its just liability. So if you own either one of the two, how much do you pay for insurance? I know mine would be slightly higher since I'm only 22. Thanks for any help on this. :)""

Insurance Companies?

What kind of jobs are there at insurance companies and what is the salary for those jobs?

Does anyone have suggestions for affordable health insurance for student (29)?

I am a 29 year old substitute teacher and part time student. I am looking for some type of affordable health isurance and prescription plan. I am in need of some help...I have no idea where to look. Can anyone please point me in the right direction? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much!

What states do not require you to have auto insurance??????

What states is it not mandatory to have auto insurance in order to register and drive your car? I know that it is absolutely mandatory to have insurance if your financing your car or truck reguardless.

Which life insurance to get before Dx of melanoma?

I am 99% sure I have melanoma on my leg. Have apt soon to get this confirmed and staged and start the process. I am a nurse, I know the process, and know the outcome can be one of many. I do not currently have any life insurance, never have. I have 2 small children and it is JUST me and then, no close friends, no family. Worst case scenario, if I only have a short time to live, what would be the best LIFE insurance I can get before getting this diagnosis? I would need something in which they could not cancel me if I am diagnosed with cancer within days of purchasing a premium. Today is May 11th, I should have my diagnosis by May 29th. I would like the biggest policy at the most affordable rate (I don't make as much money as you would think), but its also important that I get the fewest stipulations. By the way, I hate to admit it, but I am a smoker. I quit from 2009 to late 2010, but then started up again when I started RN school (am an LPN now, graduate from RN school in 3 weeks). Any solid advice would be appreciated. In laymens terms please. Ohio.""

How much is insurance for a single male under 25 on a DODGE CHARGER?

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Questions about car insurance?

I understand that I will need car insurance and when I do get my first car my insurance will be high (I'm 17). My parents don't drive, so I can't rely upon them. Tell me if I'm wrong and help me out... 1. So the big picture of car insurance is that if I get into an accident, the money I put for my car will be paid for with the money I put in? 2. Will car insurance cover anything I do with the car? (Such as swapping parts, oil change, etc.) 3. Why does insurance quotes matter? Doesn't the more you pay the better coverage you have? Why do you need to save money? Are they trying to make you pay less so you if your accident can't be paid fully, you will pay with some other type? 4. How much will insurance supposedly cost? My first part-time job will only pay approx. 30k a year, I don't know how much I'll lose. 5. Does the type of car affect how much I will pay? (Hopefully, but I will be getting a Scion FR-S automatic) 6. Which car insurance company is mostly recommended for teenagers? Thanks for your help!""

Does Florida auto insurance have some sort of new windshield coverage?

I need an arguement solved. i was on interstate and some rocks/debris flew off truck in front of me and damaged my windshield. everyone keeps telling me that my insurance will cover the windshield to be replaced but I do not see this in my policy at all. I only carry the basic minimum needed to insure car. Is there something I am missing or does anyone what these other people are talking about? I do not carry comp or collision.

What if I cause an accident but the car insurance is not under my name.?

Well I hit someone and in my car but the insurance is under my mothers name only.The other driver and his passenger are riding in car that does not belong to both and they are not under the insurance of the car.Sadly the passenger was complaining about a neck injury so they called the cops and an ambulance.What happens then?

Car Insurance Cost in NYC?

I have a question regarding car insurance. I'm 29 years old. I've been in 3 car accidents but was not at fault for any of them (2 of the times my car was sitting still! lol) and I've never gotten a ticket for any of those accidents. I used to have insurance through State Farm, full coverage for a 2004 Jeep Liberty that cost 50-60 a month in upstate NY. While driving to NYC one winter I got a speeding ticket, my first ticket ever! I was going I think 82(?) in a 65. This was just before I moved to NYC, and because I got the ticket in a podunk little county I was driving through I had no idea what the name was, the ticket flew out my door and I lost it. I figured they would mail me something else to tell me the payment was late but I never received anything else about it. Well I found out later it was because I moved, even though I moved about 2 months after the fact they wait quite a while to send another notice, and I never received it. Thus, my license was suspended but I never knew. I never got caught driving without it either. So I moved here in 2007 with my Jeep which I was very behind payments for, and then it got towed away for alternate side parking BS. I could have borrowed the money back then to pay to get it out but I let it go. Alright so long story short, I don't have the truck, it was auctioned. I'll be done paying for it through a collection agency settlement offer this May. If I had kept the truck, I would be paying 200+ more a month than I pay now, and I wouldn't have been done paying it til August 2011. Plus I would have had to pay to catch it up the 3 months I was behind, plus pay my boyfriends brother back who was willing to lend me the money to get it out of the car jail (lol) I had the suspension lifted last July so I could rent a car, again no issues. So I'm thinking of buying a 2,000 car (cash! I learned my lesson) in June when I'm done paying for the truck and I want to get no fault insurance. I know it will be a lot more here then what I used to pay, and in addition I now have a suspension that wasn't there before. How much do you guys have to pay for your insurance, if it's not too much information to ask? And how much do you think mine might be, or compare your cost and history to mine? Thanks.""

Insurance quote on nissan navra ?

in febuary i will be 17 is there any chance i would be able to get a quote on a truck like that or am i living in a dream world

How online auto insurance works?

Registering a new car,not a transfer of insurance. I am planning on purchasing GEICO insurance but am not sure how process works. After reviewing registration steps it states the local agent has to sign and stamp RMV-1 form. How will that work if my insurance provider is online? Do they send an agent or do I drive out to closest office? Is the process longer with an online insurance?""

In the future will car insurance for young drivers get cheaper?

In the future will car insurance for young drivers get cheaper?

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

Lincoln'S New Salem Illinois Cheap car insurance quotes zip 62659

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